Organic farming
by StormWolf10
Summary: Based on something David Tennant said at the Midnight Convention 2012. The Duplicate Doctor purchases something without consulting Rose about it first, and it will completely change their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Based on the answer David Tennant gave at the Midnight convention (2012) when asked what the duplicate Doctor and Rose were doing in the parallel world; "Organic farming! That's definitely, definitely what they're doing!" **

"Doctor, you really should have asked me about this first," Rose told her partner as she gazed around.

The Doctor's face dropped, and his arms fell to his sides in disappointment. He noticed that Rose was still stood beside their car, a sleek black Range Rover, and she was looking rather pale.

"Are you ok, Rose?" He asked in concern, quickly hurrying to her side.

"Doctor, you bought a _farm_!" Rose hissed, wide eyed.

"Well, yes," he replied, frowning in confusion "but... Oh! Oh, Rose, I'm sorry! You don't like it, do you? It's too far from your parents' house; I mean we're in Cambridgeshire for Rassilon's sake! And I know you said you wanted to get away from Torchwood, but..."

"Doctor," Rose cut in gently "it's ok. It was just a bit of a shock, that's all. You said we're in Cambridgeshire?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yep, just down there is the village of Foxton." The Doctor told her, pointing at a road leading in the opposite direction from where they'd come from.

Rose nodded slightly, before turning to face the Doctor properly. She wasn't as pale anymore, but still looked more than a little concerned.

"_Why_ exactly did you buy a farm, Doctor?" She asked curiously.

The Doctor shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck, like he always did when he was nervous.

"I thought it would be fun!" He admitted quietly, sounding rather vulnerable "I mean, we're out in the countryside, we could get a few chickens, maybe a horse, or some cattle or something... There's a shop in the village that sells organic produce grown by local farmers, and I thought we could perhaps give it a go. If you like, of course..."

"You've really thought this out, haven't you?" Rose realised, smiling slightly.

The Doctor nodded, scuffing his converses in the gravel of the drive up to the farmhouse.

"And you really want to do this?"

Again, he nodded.

"Ok, when do we have to sign the paperwork by?" Rose asked, beginning to warm to the idea.

The Doctor blushed.

"Doctor?" Rose prompted.

"I _may_ have already signed the paperwork," he admitted, smiling weakly.

To his surprise, Rose merely laughed.

"I guess you've been thinking about this for a while, yeah? I mean, it's not exactly something you just decide to do one day, is it?" Rose pointed out, smiling.

"I've been thinking about it for about four or five months now." The Doctor explained "Only thing was, I'd only been here two months when I decided that that was what I wanted us to do, and I was too nervous to just ask you."

Rose rolled her eyes and pulled him closer for a kiss.

"Come on the , let's go look at our new farmhouse," Rose announced suddenly, dragging the Doctor by his t-shirt to the front door.

**~StormWolf10~ **

The farmhouse needed a fair amount of work done to it, but it wasn't so much that they couldn't live in it while they repaired it; some of the walls needed re-plastering and painting, and the wallpaper in the master bedroom was hideous, but the building was structurally sound. Rose had been a little surprised at how cosy the house felt; it was a rather large farmhouse, and the rooms were larger than she'd expected, but it still retained that warm country feel.

"So we already own it?" Rose asked suddenly.

The Doctor nodded eagerly as he poked around the front room.

"Yep! We can move in as soon as we want!" He answered with a grin.

"And how much is the mortgage?" Rose prompted.

"Mortgage? We don't have a mortgage!" The Doctor told her, frowning.

"Well, how did you pay for it? You've only been here seven months, there's no way you had enough money to buy it outright!" Rose pointed out.

The Doctor blushed and mumbled something about getting a loan from someone.

"Oh, Doctor!" Rose sighed "Please tell me you didn't go to a loan shark!"

"I didn't," the Doctor muttered stubbornly.

"Then who gave you the loan?!" Rose snapped, anger beginning to build.

"Your Dad!" The Doctor snapped back.

Rose blinked.

"Right." She replied, numb "So my _Dad_ bought us a _farm_."

"Yeah, well, I said we'd pay him back! As soon as we're on our feet, and we have the cows and chickens and vegetables, it'll be fine!" The Doctor insisted.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor and Rose spent the majority of the rest of the day cleaning their new farmhouse and making a list of what crops and animals they could get.

"You really are determined to raise cattle, aren't you?" Rose noted in amusement as the Doctor added it to their list.

The Doctor grinned.

"We-ell, we could get some chickens too," he replied.

"Doctor, I think the chickens will be easier to care for than the cattle," Rose admitted gently "I mean, neither of us know how to milk a cow!"

"I could learn!" the Doctor answered quickly, wide-eyed.

Rose sighed, trying not to smile.

"Oh! And maybe some sheep!" the Doctor added, eyes lighting up with excitement.

"And where will we keep the sheep?" Rose asked sceptically "For that matter, where will we keep the cattle? There's not _that_ much land…"

"Well, when I bought the farm, the estate agent mentioned that the surrounding few acres were possibly going to be up for sale soon…" the Doctor explained, shrugging.

"How much is a few acres? Right now, it sounds like you want to start running an entire farm, and I'm really not sure we can manage that!" Rose told him uncertainly.

The Doctor shrugged, seemingly unfazed.

"Well, like I said, it's not even up for sale yet. We can start off with just the crops, and see how that goes, and then if we decide to get some more land, we could get some cattle, or sheep or something. Oh! And we'd have to get a dog!" the Doctor rambled, grinning.

"A dog?" Rose echoed.

"Well, I'm not going to be able to round up the sheep on my own, am I?" the Doctor told her.

He was virtually bouncing up and down now, and Rose couldn't help but grin.

"Ok, ok, we'll see how it goes," Rose told him.

"Really?" the Doctor asked excitedly.

"Really," Rose assured him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, I've decided to continue this! Big thanks to lastincurableromantic, who kindly told me about some other things that were mentioned at the convention. Also, thank you to burningupasunX and QueenOfBeasts for reviewing the previous chapter :) **

Rose blinked. The image in front of her didn't change. She blinked again. It still didn't change. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly backed out of the front room and back into the hallway. And then she hurried towards the kitchen. When she got inside, the Doctor was where she'd left him, packing groceries away.

"Rose, I thought I told you I'd put the shopping away!" the Doctor reminded her, grinning.

Rose nodded, speechless. A tiny part of her was aware that she was still in her coat and boots, and she knew she was probably tracking mud all through their farmhouse, but she was still in shock.

"Are you alright, Rose?" the Doctor asked, frowning at her as he put the milk in the fridge.

Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu from when she had first found out the Doctor had bought a farm, Rose merely blinked before meeting her partner's eyes.

"There's a chicken on our sofa." She informed him shakily.

"Well, yeah," the Doctor replied casually, frowning at her still "where else is Reg going to sleep?"

"Reg?" Rose echoed.

"Yes. Reginald the chicken." The Doctor answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Ok," Rose replied, taking a deep breath "and you expect Reg the chicken to sleep on our sofa?"

"Well, it was that, or we put him up in one of the spare rooms." The Doctor replied, a pained expression on his face "It's only until the chicken coop gets delivered."

"You bought a chicken before you bought a chicken coop?" Rose asked in alarm.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Jensen from Lowercroft farm wanted to sell a couple of his chickens, so I bought one. We can get a few more chickens once we have the coop." the Doctor told her, turning back to his newspaper.

Rose shook her head, slipping her coat off before pulling off her boots and returning them to the shoe rack near the front door.

"So you're sure you got everything we needed?" the Doctor called out to her.

"Yeah," Rose called back "why? Do you think I've forgotten anything?"

"No, no. It looks like everything's here," he assured her.

Rose sighed with relief. She'd just been down to the village to pick up some groceries, and it had taken far longer than she'd expected. They had been in their farmhouse for a month now, and had re-plastered and repainted it to suit their own style. However, they had kept it as old fashioned as possible so that it matched the house's exterior. This also meant that they now knew many of the villagers, which was why she'd taken so long with the shopping; as friendly as the villagers were, they were also rather nosy, and loved nothing more than a good gossip.

"Have you started on the crops yet?" Rose asked as she headed back to the kitchen.

By now, the Doctor had finished packing the groceries away, and was reading a newspaper.

"Not yet. But I did hear back from the estate agent; there's five and a half acres going up for sale in three weeks, and they've said that we can have first offer on it if we're interested," the Doctor answered, not looking up.

"Can we really handle six acres of land, though? I mean, neither of us grew up doing this. We're kind of making it up as we go along." Rose pointed out uncertainly.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I know, but if we had more land, we could get some cattle, and maybe some sheep. We could even get a horse!" the Doctor enthused, looking up suddenly. He was grinning.

He saw Rose's eyes light up when he mentioned they could get a horse, and he suppressed a chuckle at that.

"But…But I wouldn't want to kill the sheep," Rose admitted, blushing slightly.

The Doctor did chuckle at that, but stopped quickly when Rose glared at him.

"Rose, we're living on a farm. What were you expecting we would do with the animals?" he asked.

"Well, you didn't mention sheep until later! You said chicken and cattle, and those would be for eggs and milk! You never said we'd have to kill sheep!" Rose protested, wide-eyed.

"We wouldn't _have_ to kill them, Rose," the Doctor conceded, watching his partner carefully "we could just raise them for wool, or to graze the land,"

"Really?" Rose asked meekly.

"Really," the Doctor assured her.

Rose smiled weakly, and the Doctor suddenly felt very guilty. Yes, Rose was a grown woman, and she knew exactly where her food came from, but she had grown up on a South London council estate, and had never had to consider killing an animal before. Shaking his head slightly, the Doctor pulled himself from his thoughts.

"Cup of tea?" he asked.

**~StormWolf10~**

Later that night, the Doctor and Rose were sat on the sofa together, watching TV. Reg was wandering around the sitting room, occasionally pecking at the wires before being chased away by the Doctor.

"Where is Reg actually going to sleep tonight?" Rose asked suddenly, eying the chicken with caution.

"Well, down here," the Doctor replied, frowning "unless you're suggesting he shares our bed!"

Rose screwed her nose up at that, and quickly shook her head.

"That was most definitely _not_ what I was suggesting," she replied quickly.

The Doctor grinned.

"But, he does keep trying to eat through the wires, and I don't want to come down tomorrow morning to find that he's cooked himself," Rose concluded.

The Doctor sighed, realising Rose was right.

"We could put him in the library?" he suggested reluctantly.

The library was the room between the front room and the kitchen, and was meant to serve as a second reception room- it even had a fireplace like the front room- but Rose had suggested making it into a library. The Doctor had been delighted at the idea, and had quickly set it up with a desk and sofa.

"That could work," Rose admitted, nodding "as long as we move the lamp there'll be no wires in there."

The Doctor nodded, and quickly gathered up Reg to take him into the library. Rose switched the TV before following. She moved the lamp to the hallway, and the Doctor quickly set Reg down and closed the door.

"Shall we go to bed then?" he asked Rose, smiling slightly.

She nodded, and they began to head upstairs. The Doctor just hoped that the library would still be in tact the next morning…


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Do chickens stroll? I'm not entirely sure, but they do in this chapter! And I know nothing about farming or farm animals, although I do love the idea of living on a farm.**

The Doctor yelped, jumping backward and sucking his injured thumb.

"I told you to get a ready-made chicken coop," Rose told him, sighing as she passed him a cup of tea.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I'm perfectly capable of putting a chicken coop together, Rose," he snapped, glowering.

Rose didn't bother replying as she sat down on the back step, watching him. Several chickens strolled past her, and Rose realised that if the Doctor didn't get the coop built soon, they'd have to drive down to Lowercroft farm and ask Mr Jensen for help; they now owned no fewer than ten chickens, and all of them were currently living in the library. Rose watched in silence as the Doctor continued hammering nails into the wood, muttering under his breath about how he needed to hurry up and finish his new sonic screwdriver as he did so. His dark jeans were covered in mud, as were his converses, while the sleeves of his jumper were rolled up to his elbows. He had stopped wearing suits just a week after buying the farm, after it soon became apparent that they were not appropriate farming wear.

"Do you want a hand with that?" Rose asked cautiously as the Doctor hit his thumb yet again.

The Doctor muttered something under his breath, and Rose rolled her eyes, taking it as a no.

**~StormWolf10~**

Several hours later, the chicken coop was finally finished, and the Doctor and Rose rounded the chickens up to get them settled into their new home. Once that was done, Rose decided to clear the library up as the chickens had made a fair bit of mess. The Doctor was taking a shower when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, Rose hurried out of the library and down the hallway. Opening the door, she was immediately met by a man in a tweed flat cap holding a clipboard.

"Hello, I have a delivery for a Mr J. Noble?" the man announced, consulting his clipboard.

"He's my partner," Rose replied "I wasn't aware we were having anything delivered."

Just then, the Doctor came hurrying down the stairs, his hair still damp from the shower.

"Are you Mr John Noble?" the man asked as the Doctor reached the door.

"Yep," the Doctor answered, nodding. He had taken the name John Noble just a few days after arriving on Pete's world, but hardly ever used it.

"I have a delivery for you. If you could sign here," The man announced, gesturing at a place on the clipboard "and then come out and help me shift it. Where's she going?"

"The barn in the back field." The Doctor answered, signing the form.

Ignoring Rose's questioning look, the Doctor then followed the man outside. The man had come in a range rover, with a trailer hitched to the back. Rose was intrigued, and quickly followed. Rounding the back of the trailer, Rose gasped when she saw three young calves peering out at her.

"Oh, they are _gorgeous_!" Rose exclaimed, grinning.

The Doctor grinned.

"They're shorthorn calves," he explained as Rose tentatively reached out to the calf "all girls and only a few weeks old."

**~StormWolf10~**

Over the next few days, Noble Farm had several more deliveries of animals, including several Southdowns and Tunis sheep and lambs- which the Doctor hoped to crossbreed at a later date-, a horse and a border collie puppy. Rose was completely enthralled with the baby animals, and completely loved their new horse. She was glad now that she and the Doctor had in fact purchased the surrounding five and a half acres, as it gave the animals plenty of room. However, now of course came the difficult task of naming all their animals. As none of their animals were being used for meat, the Doctor saw no problem in Rose naming the animals, but she had other ideas.

"I think we should invite Mum, Dad and Tony up for the week," she announced suddenly.

"Why would we do that?" the Doctor asked, genuinely perplexed.

Rose sighed.

"Doctor, we've had the farm for nearly two and a half months now, and my parents still haven't seen it! Not to mention the fact that my Dad was the one who actually bought it for us," she pointed out.

"I suppose," the Doctor conceded reluctantly.

"And," Rose continued, grinning suddenly "I think Tony would love to help us name the animals,"

The Doctor's face lit up at that.

"Oh, Rose Tyler, that is a _great_ idea!" the Doctor exclaimed, kissing her on the forehead.

"I have my moments," Rose answered cheekily, beaming.

**~StormWolf10~**

A few days later, Pete Tyler swung his Lexus into the gravel drive of Noble Farm. Tony was bouncing up and down eagerly in his car seat, and no matter how many times Jackie berated the little boy, the three year old continued. As the car finally came to a stop, the Doctor and Rose came out of the farmhouse to greet them, their puppy jumping round their feet.

"Hi, Mum," Rose greeted Jackie as she climbed out of the car.

"Hiya, love," Jackie replied, smiling tiredly "let me just get your brother out. He's been drivin' us mad the whole way here; he's been singing 'Old MacDonald' for the past forty-five minutes!"

Rose and the Doctor chuckled as Jackie helped Tony out. The three year old immediately scampered over to his sister, who swept him into a hug. Meanwhile the Doctor was helping Pete with the suitcases.

"Can we go see your horse, Rose?" Tony asked eagerly as he hugged his big sister.

Rose glanced at the Doctor who nodded.

"You three go ahead; me and Pete will take the suitcases in and then catch you up," the Doctor answered, leading Pete to the farmhouse.

Rose nodded, allowing Tony to slip from her grasp to the floor, when he proceeded to drag her off.

**~StormWolf10~**

Tony stood on the fence, giggling as he patted the horse's head.

"What's his name?" he demanded, still giggling.

"The Doctor insisted on calling him Arthur," Rose replied, sighing.

Jackie rolled her eyes at that; she'd heard all about their ill-fated run in with a certain French courtesan.

"Can I ride him?" Tony asked suddenly, looking expectantly at his sister.

"Not quite yet, buddy," the Doctor announced, appearing behind Rose with Pete "we haven't got a saddle or stirrups yet, and you're a little too small for him. Although, if Arthur's in a good mood later, he might let you sit on him."

Tony grinned and nodded eagerly. As Pete helped him off the fence, Tony seemingly noticed the little border collie puppy for the first time.

"You have a puppy!" Pete realised as Tony crouched down in front of it, petting the pup on his head.

"Yep. We're going to train him up to be a sheep dog." The Doctor replied.

"What's 'is name?" Jackie asked, watching Tony with the puppy fondly.

"Actually, he doesn't have one yet. The only animals that do are the horse and one of the chickens." Rose replied "We were hoping Tony could help us name the rest of them."

Tony looked up at the sound of his name, still beaming.

"And what's the name of your chicken?" Pete asked as they began to walk.

"Reginald." The Doctor announced.

"It's a rooster then?" Jackie asked.

"Nope," the Doctor replied, grinning "he's most definitely a hen. All our chickens are egg-laying hens. No chicks on this farm,"

"Umm, Doctor," Pete broke in nervously "you do realise that if Reg is a hen, Reg is a 'she', right?"

"Well, yeah," the Doctor answered, seemingly affronted at the suggestion he didn't know the gender of his livestock.

"But you do keep calling Reg 'he'." Pete added, frowning.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I am very much aware that Reg is, in fact, a '_she'_, but with a name like Reg, '_he_' sounds better."

Both Jackie and Pete blinked in confusion.

"Basically, he knows Reg is a girl, but he wanted to call the chicken 'Reginald'," Rose explained exasperatedly.

Jackie shook her head, muttering something about 'that daft alien' while Pete chuckled and nodded in understanding. Suddenly, Tony huffed, drawing the adults' attention to him.

"Are we going to go name the other animals now, or not?" he asked, pouting.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: New chapter! Next chapter is rather Christmassy..**

"He's not quite got the hang of this farming lark, has he?" Jackie asked her daughter idly.

"Nope," Rose replied, sighing.

The two women were sat at the garden table in the Doctor's and Rose's garden, watching as, in the next field, the Doctor attempted to round up their sheep. It had been amusing for the first half an hour, but after almost two hours, the women were starting to feel a little bad for him; every time he managed to get some sheep into the pen, the others wouldn't go in, and by the time the Doctor had rounded up those ones, the one that had been in the pen to start with had wandered off. The Doctor's current method of trying to steer the sheep towards the pen was to run at them, flapping their arms. Just over fifteen minutes ago, Pete had removed his jacket and tie and joined in, but they weren't proving any more successful.

"Don't take this the wrong way, sweetheart, but I don't really think this farm thing is working out, is it?" Jackie pointed out gently to her daughter.

Rose sighed.

"It could be going better," Rose admitted quietly "but we'll make it work, Mum. The Doctor's really enjoying it, and I am too. It's just a matter of…Well, of learning what exactly we're meant to be doing."

Now, it was Jackie's turn to sigh.

"Rose, you don't know the first thing about farming! It's not too late to move back to London, you know. Your father could get your job back at Torchwood; we could find you a nice apartment…"

"No, Mum," Rose cut in sternly "we're going to make this work. I don't _want_ to be at Torchwood, with their _guns_ and their _guidelines_ and…I just don't, alright?"

The two women fell into an uncomfortable silence. They watched the two men as they struggled to round up the sheep. Tony was stood on the wooden fence, watching his Dad and the Doctor intently, and laughing at them. Just then, the puppy- that Tony had decided to name Archie– came bounding across the grass. He sat down at Rose's feet, and didn't resist when she lifted him onto her lap.

"Why isn't that puppy out rounding up the sheep, anyway? I thought the Doctor wanted to train him?" Jackie asked, eying the puppy.

Rose sighed again.

"He's scared of the sheep," Rose answered as she petted Archie.

Jackie chuckled at that.

"Only you and the Doctor could get a sheep dog who's scared of sheep!" she told her daughter.

Rose shook her head, but she couldn't help but laugh.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Tony was out like a light," Jackie informed the Doctor, Rose and Pete as she returned to the front room.

"Looks like all that fresh air did him good," Pete commented, smiling at his wife as she sat down beside him.

It was just gone seven in the evening, and it was Pete's, Jackie's and Tony's third day at Noble Farm. They were leaving in two days, much to Tony's disappointment, but he had been able to name all the farm animals. They now had Ellie, Sally and Leigh the shorthorn cattle, and Tony had also successfully named all the sheep and chickens, although Rose personally couldn't tell which ones were called what names.

"So, when did you decide that this was what you wanted to do, Doctor?" Pete asked in interest.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I dunno, a few months after we were here. Seemed like it would be fun." The Doctor replied.

"And don't worry, Dad, we'll start paying you back as soon as we can," Rose added.

"Never mind about that," Pete told his daughter sternly, smiling slightly "you get yourselves sorted out first. Besides, the money was just some savings I had from Vitex, I'm not going to miss it."

Rose blinked, before mentally shaking herself. She still forgot sometimes that her Dad was a millionaire.

"Are you sure, Pete?" the Doctor asked nervously.

"Oh, of course he's sure!" Jackie announced, rolling her eyes "Like he said, we're hardly going to miss the money!"

Pete chuckled and nodded, causing Archie to look up from where he was curled up in front of the fire.

"And you know what?" Jackie continued "As mad as it may be, I think you two might just be able to make this farm thing work!"

"Really?" the Doctor and Rose asked.

"Yeah, you're both stubborn enough!" Jackie concluded.

The Doctor and Rose couldn't help but laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'd say I'm sorry for what happens in this chapter, but I'm really not.. ;)**

It was December 22nd, and the Doctor and Rose were hurrying around their farmhouse tidying up. Jackie, Pete and Tony were coming down for the holidays, and would be arriving early the next day. Tony had been very excited when he'd spoken to Rose on the phone, as she'd revealed that the farm was covered in at least two feet of snow. They had a real Christmas tree in the front room, decorated with lights and baubles, and all the animals were in the stables and barns, out of the cold weather, leaving only some last minute tidying up to do. It was almost eleven at night, and, finally, the Doctor straightened up, sighing.

"I think we'd better call it a night, Rose. You're parents are going to be here by ten tomorrow, and I don't think the house will get any tidier." He told his partner tiredly.

Rose nodded, yawning.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Rose admitted.

"Come on," the Doctor replied, smiling tiredly "let's get to bed."

**~StormWolf10~**

The next morning, Rose headed downstairs at just gone seven. The Doctor was having a shower, and she'd agreed to start breakfast. Bundled in her burgundy dressing gown, Rose padded towards the kitchen. However, she suddenly paused when she noticed that the door to the front room was ajar. Frowning, she pushed it open and slipped inside. Rose's eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

"Doctor!" she called, her voice shaking.

She heard the shower shut off abruptly, and scarcely a minute later, the Doctor burst into the room, hair plastered to his head with water and a towel slung dangerously low around his hips.

"What's the matter?" he asked, frowning.

Rose, instead of replying, nodded over at the tree. The Doctor followed her gaze, and his eyes widened when he saw it.

"Oh dear." He murmured.

"Yeah." Rose agreed.

"We'd better get that cleared up before your parents arrive."

"Yeah."

"Have we got any other tree lights?"

"Yeah, we've got the new ones we bought in case those ones didn't work," Rose replied, still staring.

"Ok. Good." The Doctor answered "How are we going to explain it to Tony?"

"We won't." Rose told him quickly "We'll explain to Mum and Dad, and then, as far as Tony's concerned, Reginald's still in the chicken coop."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'll go get dressed, and then I'll sort _that_ out," he told her, nodding at the mess near the Christmas tree.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Merry Christmas, darlin'!" Jackie announced, hurrying over to her daughter.

"Merry Christmas, Mum," Rose replied, grinning.

Jackie quickly hugged Rose, before moving on to the Doctor, who feigned reluctance while Jackie hugged him.

"Happy Christmas, Rose, Doctor," Pete announced, grinning as he carried Tony over.

Tony squirmed in his father's arms, and Pete lowered the little boy to the ground.

"Happy Christmas!" Rose replied, ruffling her younger brother's hair "Why don't you go and watch TV, yeah, Tony?"

Tony nodded and scampered into the farmhouse, heading straight for the now-tidy front room.

"Right," the Doctor announced, clapping his hands together "we'll get your suitcases upstairs, and then Rose and I need to have a word with you away from Tony."

Jackie looked about to say something, but Pete shook his head. Together, the four adults took Jackie's, Pete's and Tony's suitcases up to the spare bedrooms before they headed to the kitchen to talk. Tony was happily watching cartoons in the front room, so there was very little chance of him interrupting them.

"So, what is it that you two are so nervous about telling us?" Pete asked once the kitchen door was closed.

"Well," the Doctor began.

Jackie cut in suddenly.

"Are you pregnant, Rose? Is that it? Or do you need more money? We can lend you more money!"

"Jaqs, let them speak," Pete reprimanded his wife.

Jackie nodded reluctantly, and the Doctor started again.

"We…We woke up to a bit of a…_situation_ this morning,"

"I knew it!" Jackie announced suddenly "You're pregnant, aren't you, Rose?"

"No, Mum, I'm not!" Rose replied, rolling her eyes "Will you just let the Doctor finish?"

"As I was saying," the Doctor continued before Jackie could reply "we woke up to a bit of a situation this morning. We're still not entirely sure how it happened, but last night when Rose and I went to bed, we must have accidentally left the Christmas tree lights on. Somehow, Reginald got into the house- we think he may have come in during the day and gone to sleep in a cupboard or something- and…Well, he chewed through the Christmas lights…"

Jackie gasped while Pete chuckled, both realising exactly where the conversation was going.

"So, what you two are telling us, is that Reginald is…."

"Fried." The Doctor and Rose completed in unison.

"The chicken cooked itself?" Jackie asked, beginning to laugh slightly herself.

"Yeah," Rose replied "it wasn't the best thing to wake up to this morning. There were feathers _everywhere_! But the thing is, we don't really wanna tell Tony that the chicken was electrocuted, so we were thinking of just saying that Reg was in the chicken coop, or had gone missing, or something,"

Jackie and Pete glanced at each other before replying.

"We'll tell him," Pete told his daughter gently "and we'll just say that he must have wandered off, or something,"

Rose and the Doctor nodded gratefully. That was not a conversation they'd wanted to have.

**~StormWolf10~**

Later that day, the Doctor and Rose were out in the garden with Tony, building a snowman with the little boy. Archie was picking his way through the snow carefully, clearly unsure whether he wanted to get rather cold. The pup had grown a lot since Rose and the Doctor had first gotten him two months ago, but despite getting bigger, he was still scared of the sheep. Pete and Jackie had told Tony about Reginald, and although the boy had been a little upset, it had quickly been forgotten during a snowball fight.

"So, I really get to help you with the animals tomorrow?" Tony asked eagerly.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, we'll need to feed them and give them fresh water tomorrow morning, so you might as well come and help." The Doctor replied.

Tony grinned.

"You'll have to get up as soon as we tell you, though," Rose warned her brother "and you'll have to wrap up warm."

Tony nodded, seemingly desperate to help out on the farm.

"Well then, you'd better get inside and warmed up then," the Doctor told the little boy "because I think it's almost your bedtime and you don't want to be late tomorrow!"

Tony had already ran inside before the Doctor could finish his sentence.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Merry Christmas! This chapter is dedicated to David Tennant (although he'll probably never see it!) as, if it weren't for his comments at Midnight, none of this would have been written :P**

The Doctor lifted Tony into his arms so that the little boy could pin his Christmas stocking above the fireplace in the front room. Pete was upstairs sorting the presents into piles so that they could fill Tony's stocking quickly and quietly once his son was asleep, and Jackie and Rose were watching the Doctor and Tony from the doorway.

"The Doctor would be a great father," Jackie informed her daughter quietly.

"Mum," Rose chided quietly "you know for a fact that we aren't in a position to even consider having kids yet!"

"Yeah, but you're not denying it, are you?" Jackie pointed out, smirking.

Rose blushed and ducked her head, choosing not to dignify that with a response. Her Mum was right of course, but Rose had willed herself not to start thinking about a family; after all, they were still struggling with getting the farm up and running, and they were only just managing to pay their electricity and water bills as the farm proved much harder to run that initially thought. They were in no way financially ready for children, and yet Rose couldn't help but wonder whether the Doctor- like her- was considering it.

"Are you going to come and get ready for bed, now, Tony?" Jackie called over to her son, startling Rose out of her thoughts.

Tony huffed, but reluctantly crossed the room to where Jackie was standing. Despite his protests, the adults knew that the little boy was very tired; it was December 24th and he'd been up since just before seven that morning as he'd helped Rose and the Doctor with the farm animals that morning. The milk and mince pie was on the table waiting for Santa, as well as a carrot for Rudolph, and had been there for almost an hour now. As Jackie lifted the sleepy boy into her arms, she encouraged the little boy to say good night to the Doctor and Rose. He did so, quietly, as he rested his head on Jackie's shoulder. Tony was asleep before Jackie had even reached the top of the stairs.

**~StormWolf10~**

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Tony yelled, running down the stairs.

Jackie and Pete were trailing after the little boy tiredly, quickly followed by Rose and the Doctor, who were looking a little more alert than the older couple. This was, of course, because they had gotten used to fairly early mornings now as they had to get up and see to the animals. Archie was curled up on the rug in front of the fire, but quickly jumped to his feet when Tony burst into the room. The three year old crossed straight to where his stocking was, grinning in delight when Pete handed it to him, full to the brim with presents. He dropped to his knees, upturning his stocking and emptying his stocking all over the floor. The adults contented themselves with cups of tea and smaller presents while Tony ripped the paper off of various books, toys and games. Soon, the floor of the front room was covered in wrapping paper, and the Doctor brought in a bin bag to begin tidying it up. Then, after everyone was dressed, Rose and Jackie retreated to the kitchen to start preparing Christmas dinner while Pete and Tony helped the Doctor with the farm animals.

**~StormWolf10~**

Nearly four hours later, Jackie and Rose were laying the small dining room table for dinner. It was just before twelve and it was almost time for Christmas dinner. Tony was in the front room, playing with the toy cars Rose and the Doctor had bought him. Soon though, the five of them were seated at the table, the Christmas dinner dished up in front of them. Archie was sat at the table, eagerly anticipating which human would drop food first. The young puppy didn't have to wait long, as Tony soon dropped a bit of meat on the floor. The six month old pup skittered across the floor, quickly swallowing the meat. Tony giggled, but the Doctor and Rose both rolled their eyes.

"Don't do it again, Tony," Pete told his younger child sternly.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" the little boy insisted, wide-eyed.

"We know," Jackie replied "but we know what you're like, and you're not to be feeding Archie any of your dinner, ok?"

Tony pouted, but after a stern look from both his parents, he reluctantly nodded. Nonetheless, the Doctor caught the little boy no less than three times as he slipped food off his plate so that Archie could eat it out of his hand under the table.

**~StormWolf10~**

After dinner, they spent much of the afternoon watching films on the TV while Tony played with his toys. It began snowing again just before teatime, so the five of them headed outside for a while, helping Tony make a snowman. Of course, by nine o'clock, Tony was almost asleep, but was desperately fighting it. Instead, he'd curled up on his big sister's lap as she read him one of his new story books. Soon, he was beginning to drift off to sleep, and the little boy was taken up to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter! This one's quite long actually, so enjoy!**

It was January, and the farm was covered in a thick frost. It made the farm look absolutely lovely, but made the actual task of farming a monumental task. The country lanes were slick with ice, and the sheep were far from impressed by the fact that the grass seemed to have frozen. In fact, the only animal that actually seemed happy with the bitter cold weather was Archie, and that was only because he was content to curl up in front of the fire for most of the time.

"We're out of milk, you know," Rose announced that morning as she made herself and the Doctor a cup of tea each.

The Doctor looked up from where he was cooking breakfast, and nodded.

"I know. We need some more bread too. I'll have to go down to Foxton later and pick some up." The Doctor replied, sighing.

"Are you sure you can get down there?" Rose asked in concern, brow furrowed "It's still pretty icy out."

"We don't have that much choice, Rose," the Doctor answered "we need bread, and the cows aren't mature enough to be milked yet."

"Well, just be careful, yeah?" Rose told him, still frowning slightly.

The Doctor kissed her on the forehead.

"Of course I will." He assured her.

**~StormWolf10~**

In hindsight, it was probably the villagers that he had to be careful about, the Doctor decided. He'd somewhat cautiously made his way down the winding, slippery country lane to Foxton village, intending to nip in the village shop, purchase the necessities and leave again, but that had been almost forty minutes ago, and he was now being interrogated by several of the locals- including the vicar and Jensen from the neighbouring farm- about how he and Rose were getting on with their farm.

"Well, we are still learning, of course, but we seem to be doing well," the Doctor told Jensen brightly as he tried to slip past the man.

The most annoying thing about being ambushed like this was that he'd already bought everything he needed; the Doctor just couldn't seem to get out of the shop again.

"And you and Rose, are you married?" an elderly woman asked.

The Doctor shook his head, noting that that was the old woman who was married to the local butcher.

"Oh, well the vicar can sort that, can't you, vicar?" the woman continued, smiling.

The Doctor nodded slightly and attempted to slip past them again, but the vicar spoke up suddenly.

"Of course I could! And I understand that running a farm is hard, John, but we'd be delighted to see you and Rose in church some weeks! Of course, that's if you have time…" the vicar announced, smiling warmly.

"Well, I'll have to check with Rose-" the Doctor began awkwardly.

"Oh, of course! Well, I must be going," the vicar told them, waving goodbye as he slipped out the door.

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, and finally managed to slip past the butcher's wife and out of the door. Gripping the bag of groceries firmly in his hand, the Doctor set off slowly up the lane back to the farm.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Oh, thank god you're back!" Rose exclaimed as the Doctor came through the front door "I thought you'd slipped and broken your neck or something!"

"Nah, I got cornered by the locals in the village shop." The Doctor answered with a grin.

Rose giggled at that and took the bag of groceries from the Doctor.

"Oh, and the vicar wants to know if we're considering attending church anytime soon." The Doctor added.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"You know as well as I do that neither of us have ever been very religious. Besides, we went to the Christmas carol service. That's quite enough church for me." Rose replied.

The Doctor put one hand on the back of the door, which was now firmly shut, and began to pull his wellies off.

"I still don't know why you made me buy these blasted things." The Doctor announced suddenly.

However, when he received no answer, he looked up to see that Rose had wandered off. He hastily tugged off his other welly and left them by the front door, clumps of ice and snow already beginning to melt. The Doctor padded through the farmhouse to the kitchen, where Rose was unpacking the shopping he'd bought.

"Why did you make me buy wellies, Rose?" the Doctor complained.

However, he was soon smirking as he wrapped his arms around Rose's waist so her back was flush with his chest. Even though he couldn't see her face, he could tell Rose was grinning.

"Because you kept complaining that your converses were getting ruined from all the mud and cow poo." Rose answered calmly.

The Doctor chuckled.

"Indeed I did," he admitted.

"I've taken care of the animals, by the way," Rose continued, turning in his embrace so they were face to face now "the sheep aren't impressed that the grass is still covered in frost, but there's little we can do about that. Archie hasn't moved from in front of the fire all morning and the cows and horse won't come out of the barn. Oh, and it looks like there were foxes near the chicken coop again last night. All the chickens seem fine, but there's not many eggs; I think they're being spooked."

The Doctor sighed, and dropped his arms from Rose's waist. He scrubbed his hands tiredly over his face before ruffling his hair slightly. Rose bit her lip. She'd been with him long enough now that she knew this was the Doctor getting over frustrated and panicky.

"You're sure that none of the chickens were harmed?" the Doctor asked eventually.

Rose nodded.

"They all came out of the coop happily enough, there just weren't many eggs. It could just be because of the cold weather, but I did notice what looked like fox tracks in the snow near the coop." Rose explained.

"Ok," the Doctor replied, sighing again "I'll sort it out."

**~StormWolf10~**

Most of the rest of the day saw the Doctor hunched over their slow, battered laptop at the kitchen table. Internet signal wasn't the best due to how rural they were, but their internet worked well enough despite being slow.

"Found anything yet?" Rose asked, setting a mug of tea down beside the laptop.

The Doctor shook his head, sitting back in his chair and reaching for his tea.

"No. Everything I've found about protecting chickens involves shooting the foxes, and I really don't feel comfortable about that." The Doctor answered, sighing.

Rose slid into the chair beside him.

"Well, if there's no other choice, we'll have to do it, Doctor." Rose reasoned quietly "I mean, I'm not happy with it either, but at this rate, we'll have no chickens left!"

The Doctor put his mug down and shook his head in determination.

"No, I'll sort something else out," the Doctor told her adamantly, beginning to scroll through web pages again "I'll come up with something."

Rose rolled her eyes at his stubbornness and drained her mug of tea. Placing the mug beside the sink, she headed to the doorway.

"I'm going to be in the front room. Give me a shout if we need anything." Rose told him.

The Doctor merely grunted in reply.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor's eyes widened. Almost tripping over his chair, he jumped to his feet, hurrying around the kitchen to find a notepad and pen. He quickly scribbled down the list of things on the website before running out of the kitchen. Rose was still in the front room, watching TV, when the Doctor came barrelling into the room.

"Rose! Do we have any Tabasco sauce?" he asked, grinning.

Rose blinked.

"No," Rose replied slowly, frowning.

The Doctor fled from the room again, and Rose could hear him scrambling around, presumably grabbing his coat and shoes.

"Doctor, what do you need Tabasco sauce for?" Rose asked, standing up and hurrying out into the hall.

But the Doctor was already out the door.

**~StormWolf10~**

When the Doctor returned nearly an hour and a half later, he was shivering slightly, his lips tinged with blue.

"What the hell is going on?" Rose demanded as he came through the front door, bringing clumps of snow with him.

"I had to go get Tabasco sauce." The Doctor replied, peeling his coat off and hanging it up.

"What do you need that for?" Rose asked, watching as the Doctor struggled to get his converses off "And why did you go out in the weather in converses?"

"Ok, number one; I read that foxes don't like the taste of Tabasco sauce, and if we leave some food out covered in the sauce, the foxes won't come back for a while. Number two; I didn't have time to get those blasted wellies on!" the Doctor answered, finally getting his shoes off.

He then pulled the bottle of Tabasco sauce out of his coat pocket and tossed it to Rose.

"We can use the bits of chicken we had left from last night. Just put that on it and then toss it on the ground outside the chicken coup." He instructed, grinning.

"And what about you?" Rose asked, staring at the bottle of Tabasco sauce in her hands.

"Oh, I'm off for a nice warm bath." The Doctor answered "I'm freezing!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok, I really have no experience with farming, and so if I got anything wrong in this chapter I apologise. ****Also, if anyone was lucky to be at the Midnight convention, I know about the twins, but which was the boy and which was the girl? Please review and let me know; I know their names, but I can't tell whether Gallifrey's a boy or girl…Anyone who can tell me will get a special shoutout next chapter :)**

The Doctor approached the three shorthorn cattle nervously. He had been putting this off for quite a number of weeks now, after failing to find out whether the heifers were ready to be milked using the internet, but Rose had spoken to Jensen from Lowercroft farm, who had confirmed that they most probably were. And so, the Doctor was creeping towards them in the barn, a metal bucket in one hand and a small stool in the other. For the first time since taking on the farm, the Doctor felt… _ridiculous_. He was the Doctor. He had fought aliens across worlds, and here he was, creeping towards three cows in a barn in February, wearing wellies, jeans and a hoodie. The Doctor sighed. He didn't regret his life choice for a moment, oh no, but all these early mornings and mud and cold and rain were taking its toll on him. It seemed to be taking its toll on Rose too, but both of them were determined to prove to her parents that they could make it in this lifestyle. By now, the Doctor was close enough to the cattle that he could get the bucket under the nearest one. Setting the stool down, the Doctor sat down and hesitantly patted the cow.

"Hello," the Doctor announced "I think you're Leigh, aren't you? At least, that's what Tony called you…"

He trailed off and shook his head.

"Rassilon," he murmured "I'm talking to a cow…"

Sighing again, he cautiously reached for the cow's udders.

"This can't be that hard, can it?" he thought aloud, frowning.

He gave one of the udders an experimental squeeze, and a tiny bit of milk squirted into the bucket. The Doctor grinned to himself, absurdly happy. And then, before he could react, the cow kicked the metal bucket and sent it shooting into the Doctor's face….

**~StormWolf10~**

"You need to have more faith in me, Rose Tyler!" the Doctor crowed as he re-entered their farmhouse via the back door that led straight into their kitchen.

"Why's that?" Rose asked, busying herself with making breakfast for the pair of them.

The Doctor noted she was still in her dressing gown, and evidently hadn't been up long. She'd been rather tired recently, and the Doctor was beginning to wonder if she was coming down with flu.

"Because _I_, Miss Tyler, successfully milked the cows!" the Doctor told her.

Rose smiled at the pride evident in his tone, and turned to look at the Doctor. When she did, she couldn't help but gasp.

"I know, right? A whole bucket of milk! Granted, I only milked one cow, but it still counts. What do we do with the milk now, though? I mean, it can't stay in the bucket…." The Doctor trailed off, noting that Rose was staring, mouth slightly open in shock "Why are you staring?"

"Doctor, did you walk into the barn door, or something?" Rose asked cautiously.

"No. Well, Leigh kicked the bucket into my face, but nothing else. Why?" the Doctor replied, genuinely perplexed.

Instead of replying, Rose took the Doctor's hand and led him out the kitchen and down the hallway before positioning him in the mirror next to the stairs.

"I have a black eye!" the Doctor realised, gaping at his reflection.

"Yeah," Rose replied "those cattle must have a hell of a kick on them."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose placed a full English breakfast in front of the Doctor before sitting opposite him at the table.

"Aren't you having the same?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

He noticed that whereas he had a cooked breakfast and mug of tea, Rose only had some toast and a glass of water. Rose shook her head and took a sip of water.

"Nah, don't really fancy it. Still feel a bit off," she admitted quietly, shrugging.

"You didn't have to cook breakfast for me if you're still not feeling well, Rose." the Doctor told her, leaning forward in concern "If you want, you can go back to bed, get a bit more rest."

Rose shook her head again.

"No, I'm not leavin' you on your own all day. Not today." Rose replied.

The Doctor frowned as Rose began to nibble on a slice of toast.

"Why 'not today'?" the Doctor asked.

Rose blinked.

"Did you not look on the calendar?" Rose asked in confusion.

The Doctor shook his head, before craning his neck to try and read the calendar on the other side of the room.

"Today," Rose piped up, smiling slightly at the Doctor's obliviousness "is exactly one year since we've been in the parallel world together."

The Doctor's face lit up at that.

"So…It's our anniversary?" the Doctor asked.

Rose shrugged.

"If you want to call it that, then yeah, I suppose it is." Rose replied, smiling back "But I was actually going to say that it was your birthday."

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and began pushing his cooked breakfast around the plate.

"Could we…Could we say it's both?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah. Yeah, we could." Rose replied, grinning slightly as the Doctor blushed.

"It's agreed then." The Doctor announced, smiling.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ok, guys, this is getting really serious now. I won't be able to continue this story until someone is able to tell me about the twins (Gallifrey and Debenhams). Which is the boy and which is the girl? I really need to know because otherwise the story will grind to a halt…**

"Rose? It's half nine. Are you getting up now?" the Doctor asked gently.

Rose mumbled slightly and burrowed her way back under the warm duvet.

"Rose?" the Doctor repeated.

"Leave me alone. 'M tired. Wanna sleep." Rose murmured, eyes still closed.

The Doctor sighed. This had been going on for near-on two weeks now, and Rose had been off tea, coffee and fried food for several days. In fact, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything like that since their year anniversary almost five days ago now.

"Ok, love. You sleep a bit more. I'm going to go out and saddle up Arthur, take him for a bit of a ride. I want to see how he'll react with the saddle and harness on before we invite your parents back down again; don't want him to be throwing your little brother off." The Doctor told Rose, smiling slightly.

His comment earned him a small, tired smile from Rose, before she began to drift back to sleep. The Doctor straightened up and headed downstairs. He should call Jackie. He hadn't seen Rose this ill for… Well, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her this ill. Even on the TARDIS she'd never wanted to just stay in bed- even that time she'd had shingles, she'd been determined to at least lay on the sofa in the TV room. But it could be nothing. It might just be flu, and he didn't want to worry Jackie unnecessarily. Besides, Rose had been like this for almost two weeks, and come afternoon, she was usually fine again, if a little nauseated. Sighing, the Doctor decided to go for a little ride first before he decided whether or not to call Rose's parents.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Hello, Arthur!" the Doctor greeted the horse happily.

Arthur was still in his stable, and seemed happy enough to stand still while the Doctor saddled him up for a ride. He hadn't yet been saddled up as the appropriate riding gear had only been delivered a few days ago, and the weather hadn't been particularly great. As the Doctor finished saddling up the grey horse, he was happy that Arthur was so placid- Tony was determined that the next time he came for a visit, he'd ride Arthur, and at the moment it certainly looked possible. Nonetheless, the Doctor wasn't going to make any decisions until he'd taken the horse out into the paddock for a while. He led the horse by the reins out of the stable and along into the paddock. He quickly and expertly mounted the horse, and for a split second, had a flashback to crashing through a mirror into eighteenth century France. Shaking his head, the Doctor brought himself back to the present and, with a light kick, started Arthur off on a light trot. They progressed from there to a canter within minutes, and the Doctor wished that Rose was well enough to be outside with him; he'd learnt from Jackie that Rose had always loved horses when she was little, and had been devastated when Jackie had been unable to afford riding lessons. The Doctor continued riding Arthur for a while longer, before the horse clearly lost interest and refused to move. Sighing, the Doctor slid from the horse and began to take the saddle and reins off, deciding to leave Arthur in the paddock for the day. He returned the saddle and reins to the stable before heading back into the farmhouse.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Hello Jackie, it's the Doctor," the Doctor announced nervously "I hope you don't mind me calling."

Rose was still in bed, despite it being nearly half past ten now, and the Doctor had decided to call Jackie for help.

"It's Rose, you see," the Doctor continued "she's been under the weather for almost two weeks now, really tired and nauseated. I was wondering if it was flu or something, but I'm not too sure."

"Is she eating?" Jackie's voice came over loud on the house phone, and the Doctor grimaced at the sheer volume "Doctor? Is she eating?"

"Sort of." The Doctor admitted "She won't drink tea or coffee at the moment, and anything fried makes her feel sick. She has been eating, though. And she only really seems tired in the mornings; by mid afternoon, she's fine again."

There was a pause on the end of the line, and the Doctor knew that Jackie was thinking hard.

"And her nausea? How long does that last?" Jackie asked eventually.

"All day." The Doctor answered adamantly.

"And her last period?" Jackie continued.

The Doctor spluttered indignantly.

"Jackie, I'm not sure I'm the one you should be asking…"

"Oh, don't be stupid, Doctor! You travelled together for two years, and you've shared a bed for over a year now! Just answer the bleedin' question!" Jackie retorted exasperatedly.

"Well, I don't know! Umm… two months ago? I don't know!" the Doctor answered.

He was glad that Jackie couldn't see him; he was blushing rather profusely right now.

"Well, I suggest you get to the pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy test. I'll call again this evening to speak to Rose." Jackie announced calmly.

She then hung up the phone, leaving a gaping Doctor staring at the phone.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor had been reluctant to leave Rose home alone, and even more reluctant to go and buy a pregnancy test without asking Rose first; what was he meant to do? Just come home and throw it to her, saying 'go pee on that'? So instead, he trudged up the stairs and sat on the edge of their bed, watching as Rose woke slowly.

"What time is it?" Rose slurred tiredly as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Twenty to eleven." The Doctor answered softly, brushing some of Rose's hair from her forehead.

Rose sighed and slumped back against the pillows.

"Why do I still feel so tired?" she asked, more to herself.

"Actually, I've just been on the phone to your Mother about that," the Doctor admitted "and she advised me to go and pick you up a pregnancy test."

Rose blinked.

"Did you just say that my Mother advised you to pick me up a pregnancy test?" she asked, suddenly a lot more alert.

"Yep." The Doctor replied, smiling slightly.

"But I'm not…Am I?" Rose murmured, thinking hard to herself.

"Rose," the Doctor told her gently, reaching for her hands "we have to admit, all your symptoms point to it; the nausea, the tiredness, the aversion to fried foods and tea and coffee. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't notice before. When was your last period?"

"I missed the last one," Rose admitted quietly, wide-eyed.

"Right," the Doctor replied quietly "tell you what; you get yourself up and dressed and have a shower and I'll go get a pregnancy test, yeah?"

Rose nodded, and climbed out of bed.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Well?" the Doctor called through the door.

He was sat on the floor outside the bathroom after Rose had point blank refused to let him in the bathroom with her while she took the pregnancy test. The door opened and Rose slipped out.

"We have to wait three minutes." Rose told him, sighing as she slid to the floor beside him.

She rested her head on his shoulder as she held the pregnancy test- wrapped in toilet paper- in her hands.

"Three minutes." The Doctor echoed "We can wait three minutes."

They then descended into silence for several minutes, lost in their own thoughts. Then suddenly the Doctor spoke.

"Marry me?"

Rose blinked, lifting her head from the Doctor's shoulder to look up at him.

"Sorry?" Rose asked.

"Marry me?" the Doctor repeated meekly.

"Doctor," Rose began carefully "are you one hundred percent sure what you're doing?"

"Not really." The Doctor admitted, smiling awkwardly "It's just…If you are pregnant. Well, I want to do right by you."

Rose giggled at that, and the Doctor looked confused for a few moments before he realised what he'd said, and began laughing too.

"Doctor, we don't have to get married. Besides, if I _am_ pregnant, we won't have time between raising the child and running the farm to actually get married! And we can't afford it." Rose told him, still laughing slightly.

However, the Doctor suddenly became very sombre.

"You know I won't ever leave you, Rose, right?" he asked quietly, reaching for her hand.

"I know." Rose replied, equally as quiet "And I won't ever leave you."

"I know." The Doctor answered, smiling slightly.

There was a pause then, as both of them were unsure what to say.

"I'm sat on our floor holding a stick covered in pee." Rose piped up suddenly, pulling a face.

The Doctor grinned.

"Oh yes!" he replied, grinning at her "And to think, if you are pregnant, we'll be handling a lot worse things in the future!"

Rose chuckled slightly at that.

"I suppose you're right." She conceded "Better get used to it."

The Doctor glanced at his watch suddenly.

"Three minutes. Time to look." He announced, looking at Rose expectantly.

Taking a deep breath, Rose peeled the loo roll away from the pregnancy test.

"Oh."

"Oh?" the Doctor echoed, brow furrowing "What do you mean, 'oh'."

Rose blinked and looked up at the Doctor.

"You're gonna be a Dad." She told him, grinning.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I know nothing about pregnancy! Just…yeah, go with me on this…**

Rose sat on a chair, jiggling her legs nervously.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked gently, frowning slightly.

"I need a pee!" she whispered, wide-eyed.

The Doctor chuckled slightly, earning him a glare from Rose. They were currently sat in a waiting room in Addenbrooke's Hospital, waiting to be called in for a sonogram. The Doctor was admittedly rather nervous, although he was trying not to let on to Rose, as he knew that she was worrying too. It had been only a few days since they'd found out Rose was pregnant, and they had only just managed to convince Jackie that she most certainly _didn't_ need to drive down to the farm to see them. Both Jackie and Pete were ecstatic about becoming grandparents, while little Tony was undecided on the matter, and the Doctor was worrying that they'd get home from their hospital appointment to find Jackie and Pete on their doorstep with a load of baby stuff. The Doctor was startled from his thoughts when Rose's name was called. Rose reached for her hand, tugging him to his feet as she stood. They were quickly led through to a room, where Rose was asked to lay down on the medical gurney and lift her jumper up.

"I'm Laura, and I'll be doing your scan today." The sonographer introduced herself "The main purpose of the sonogram today is to see how far along you are, ok?"

Rose nodded, and the Doctor quickly took a seat beside Rose, holding her hand.

"This gel may be a little cold," Laura warned, smiling at Rose.

As the sonographer began to move the transducer across Rose's stomach, the little monitor flickered into life, showing a grainy image on it. The sound of a heartbeat filled the otherwise quiet room.

"And there's your baby's heartbeat," Laura announced, smiling at the stunned couple.

She pointed out the baby's head, arms and legs to the couple, who were both still speechless. Laura then frowned slightly, and tapped at a couple of buttons on the monitor.

"I seem to be picking up a double heartbeat…" she murmured.

"Double heartbeat?" the Doctor echoed, wide eyed.

Please no…

"It's probably nothing to worry about." Laura assured them quickly, repositioning the transducer on Rose's belly "Ah, there we go! Twins!"

"Twins?" the Doctor and Rose chorused, both wide-eyed.

"Yep," Laura replied, still smiling "if you look there, there's the first baby, and there's the second baby just behind,"

The Doctor blinked and peered at the screen.

"Oh." He murmured "Twins."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose sat in their black Range Rover, staring at the sonogram of their twins. Their twins. Rose couldn't help but grin at that.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked, glancing over and smiling at her.

"Yeah. 'M fine." Rose replied, grinning at him "Just can't believe we're havin' twins. I thought twins had to run in the family, you know?"

The Doctor blushed slightly and focused intently on the road.

"That, err, that may be my fault." He admitted awkwardly.

"How?" Rose asked.

"Time Lords have, um, particularly potent sperm, shall we say. It seems that that may be one aspect of being a Time Lord that I've retained." The Doctor explained, shrugging.

Rose looked at him for several seconds before laughing.

"Oh, god! How are we gonna tell my Mum?" she asked, chuckling.

The Doctor snorted.

"Well, however we tell her, we don't mention my particularly potent sperm, ok? Your Mother doesn't need to know that." The Doctor replied quickly.

"She'll figure it out, Doctor," Rose reminded him "we don't have twins on my side of the family."

Rose's face suddenly fell.

"Oh, god! Doctor, how are we gonna raise twins?" she asked, aghast.

"Rose, we'll be fine," the Doctor replied, although he didn't sound too certain.

"I mean, twins, _and_ a farm! And my parents are so far away! We'll have no help, and if they're anythin' like you, they'll be running before they can walk! They'll be scampering around the farm chasing the chickens, and tugging on Archie's tail…" Rose was truly in panic mode now, her eyes wide.

"Well, at least we could use them to round up the sheep!" the Doctor joked "They'd do a better job than Archie; he still won't go near the sheep!"

Rose spluttered a laugh at that, her fears calming slightly.

"And I'm sure if we need help on the farm, or with money, the first few months after the twins are born, your Mum will come down and help." The Doctor continued, although he seemed a little worried about that idea.

"We'll be alright, won't we?" Rose asked quietly.

"Oh, of course we will! We're always alright, us!" the Doctor replied happily as he finally swung the Range Rover through the gates of Noble Farm.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Another chapter! All sweet and fluffy and…yeah… Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to the very wonderful A Who Down in Whoville for giving me information from Midnight about the twins, and the most awesome Arrows the Wolf, for trying to research more information for me. Thanks, guys! :)**

"I know, Mum! Twins! The Doctor's adamant we'll be alright, but we'll have to do, like, shifts or something, to keep the farm running, especially when the twins are little." Rose told her Mum.

It felt good, Rose decided, to simply phone her Mum for a chat. She decided she'd have to do it more often.

"And how's himself?" Jackie asked.

Rose grinned.

"The Doctor's fine. He's out at the moment, but he'll probably be back soon. He's so excited, Mum! He's already planning the nurseries- he's determined they'll each have their own room, though they'll be in with us for the first few months at least. And he wants to get a video camera for when they're born. That way, you and Dad won't miss anything when you're not down visiting us." Rose continued, beaming.

She heard her Mum's breath hitch on the other end of the phone.

"You alright, Mum?" Rose asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Jackie insisted "just can't believe my baby's havin' babies!"

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Jackie continued, her tone suddenly sharp "what's the Doctor doin' out at this time? It's nearly half five!"

"Yeah, but he didn't go out until four, Mum. I've been throwing up virtually all day and he didn't want to leave me alone. I could only just convince him to leave me long enough to go and feed the animals this morning!"

"Good!" Jackie replied haughtily "He shouldn't be off gallivanting about when you're at home feeling poorly!"

"Mum, it's morning sickness, it's not like I'm dying!" Rose replied, rolling her eyes again.

"Well, yeah," Jackie replied indignantly "but you said so yourself that your morning sickness was pretty bad."

"Mum, just leave it, yeah? I really don't feel a hundred percent and the last thing I want is to be arguing with you." Rose told her Mum desperately.

It was true. She'd spent most of the day not straying far from the toilet, for fear she'd throw up. In actuality, she'd only been sick about two times (although both times she'd been throwing up for almost forty-five minutes), but she was still feeling nauseated.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Jackie sighed, her tone softer now "I just worry about you. What with you being so far away, and all…"

"I'm fine, Mum. Besides, you said so yourself; if I ever really wanted or needed you down here, Dad would be more than happy to drive you down." Rose reminded her Mum.

"I suppose you're right," Jackie conceded "I'll call you tomorrow, sweetheart. Bye."

"Yeah, bye, Mum." Rose answered.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor unlocked the front door of the farmhouse, slipping inside quickly.

"Hiya, Archie!" the Doctor greeted the dog as the Border Collie bounded up to him, weaving round the Doctor's legs.

He slipped off his coat and shoes before heading through to the sitting room.

"Hi," the Doctor greeted Rose, kissing her on the forehead "you been alright while I've been out?"

"Still a bit nauseous," Rose replied, screwing her nose up at the admission "but I haven't been sick any more. And I called Mum."

"Ah. Your Mother didn't try and invite herself down here, did she?" the Doctor asked, wrinkling his nose slightly as he plopped down on the sofa beside Rose.

Rose laughed.

"She tried. And then she got annoyed because you'd gone out." Rose told him, grinning.

Then, Rose frowned.

"Actually, why _did_ you go out?" she asked the Doctor, watching him carefully.

"I…Um..I had to get something. Well, pick something up." The Doctor replied evasively, tugging on his ear.

Rose looked at him sceptically.

"Doctor?" she asked.

The Doctor sighed, and pushed himself to his feet.

"I went to pick this up," he told Rose carefully, pulling out a ring box from the pocket of his trousers.

Rose gaped, eyes fixed to the little box.

"I know you said that we can't afford to get married yet, and with the twins and the farm, we don't really have the time, either. But one day, one day Rose Tyler, I'm going to marry you. Until then, I've got you this." The Doctor told her softly, kneeling on the floor in front of her.

He opened the ring box to reveal a beautiful white gold Promise Ring. Rose gasped.

"Doctor," she said quietly "how did you afford this?"

"Never you mind," the Doctor replied, grinning "as long as you like it, the price doesn't matter."

"It's lovely," Rose breathed.

The ring had an infinity symbol on it, which was studded with diamonds and there were two stones at either end of the infinity symbol. Two blue stones. Two TARDIS blue stones. Rose's breath hitched as the Doctor slipped it out of the box.

"I got it engraved as well," the Doctor explained, handing the ring to Rose "plus I figured it was more of a 'Forever' ring for us."

Rose flashed the Doctor a grin before looking at the engraving on the inside. It said one word. 'Forever'. Before the Doctor could even blink, Rose had flung herself at him, grinning.

"Thank you! I love it!" she told him, hugging him tight.

The Doctor grinned, and eased Rose back so he could slip the ring onto her finger.

"I feel bad now!" Rose laughed tearily.

"Why?" the Doctor asked, perplexed.

"Because I have a Promise- sorry, _Forever_ ring, and you don't!" Rose answered, although she was smiling.

"I don't mind, though. And I'd probably spend a lot of time taking it off for farming," the Doctor pointed out, grinning.

"Suppose you're right," Rose replied, cuddling into his chest "but I still feel bad."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Come on, let's get off this floor," the Doctor told her, urging Rose to her feet.

**A/N 2: Rose's ring can be found here: **** . **/user/StormieCenturion/media/Shtuff/ring_ .html?sort=3&o=0#/user/StormieCenturion/media/Shtuff/ring_ .html?sort=3&o=0&_suid=1358185415589060908534631086 1


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Yet another chapter :) I realise that we seem to be getting away from the farming, but I'm desperately trying to get back to it! Promise!**

By the time Rose was eighteen weeks pregnant, she and the Doctor had settled into a routine. Rose's morning sickness had finally eased off, and she was grateful because Jackie had threatened to come down and stay with them if it was still bad. It also meant that Rose was no longer spending the days bent over the toilet bowl, and although she couldn't help out on the farm as much as she wanted to, she could at least get out to accompany him on the farming duties. The Doctor seemed to appreciate the company too, and now the weather was becoming warmer they were spending more time outside with the animals.

"What do you want to do today?" the Doctor asked as they walked back to the farmhouse.

They'd just been making the morning rounds, feeding the animals and letting them out into the grounds.

"I dunno," Rose replied, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder as they walked "I was gonna ring Mum back about her and Dad and Tony coming down for a weekend or something, but I'm not sure I really want Tony running around,"

The Doctor slipped his arm around Rose's waist as they stepped through the back door into the farmhouse kitchen.

"Well, just tell your Mum that. She'll understand." The Doctor replied.

Rose sighed, and looked torn as she rubbed her baby bump slightly. Thanks to the fact she was having twins, Rose's baby bump was already visible despite her only being four and a half months gone.

"If you're that worried, I'll phone your Mum," the Doctor offered, smiling slightly "now why don't you go and sit down in the front room? I'll get you a drink."

Rose smiled and nodded, heading out of the kitchen to the front room.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I know, Jackie," the Doctor told her, rolling his eyes "but Rose isn't feeling up to having you all here at the moment. If she changes her mind, I'll phone you immediately."

"Even in the middle of the night?" Jackie asked.

"Well…" the Doctor began.

"Doctor?" Jackie asked, tone sharp.

"Yes! Yes, even in the middle of the night!" the Doctor squeaked.

"Good. Well, I might phone again later to talk to Rose. Goodbye, Doctor." Jackie replied.

The Doctor only just had time to say goodbye before Jackie hung up. Sighing, he returned the phone to the cradle near the front door before heading to the front room.

"Was that Mum?" Rose asked, sipping a glass of water.

The Doctor nodded, sitting beside Rose. As soon as he'd sat down, Rose moved to sit between his legs.

"Yeah. She made me promise that if you change your mind about having them down, I have to call her immediately." The Doctor replied.

Rose sighed, her head falling back against the Doctor's shoulder.

"I just don't want Tony running around. I love him and all, but he'd be a little too energetic for me right now." Rose told the Doctor.

"I know," the Doctor told her sympathetically, brushing some hair from her forehead "and I explained that to your Mother. She wasn't happy, but she understood."

Rose brow suddenly furrowed, and her hand went to her belly.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just…" Rose murmured, still frowning. Then her eyes widened, and she looked up at the Doctor. "The twins just moved."

"What?" the Doctor asked, shocked.

"The twins just moved. I just felt them move." Rose repeated, reaching for the Doctor's hand, holding it against her belly "Didn't realise what it was at first…"

"Well, we are right at the beginning of the time you'll begin to feel the babies…" the Doctor trailed off, and Rose grinned at him, knowing he'd just felt their twins kick.

"That's…" he murmured, staring at Rose's baby bump.

"Never thought I'd see the day you were speechless, Doctor," Rose told him, grinning at him.

"Never thought I'd see the day you were having my babies, Rose," the Doctor countered.

Rose forced herself into a sitting position as she noticed the Doctor's eyes were damp. She quickly twisted round and allowed him to hug her close.

"I can't believe this is really happening." The Doctor whispered.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: For those of you who don't know, the reference about Rose feeling that the pregnancy is going really slowly is actually based on what Billie Piper said on The Graham Norton Show :)**

"…And then I milked the cows. They're getting better with the whole milking thing now, they don't try to kick the bucket at me anymore… Arthur seems happy, took him out for another ride the other day… You'll like Arthur. I'll teach you two to ride him when you're old enough."

Rose cracked her eyes open, still half-asleep as she listened to the Doctor talking to their unborn twins. She shifted in the bed, and the Doctor quickly moved to help her sit up. Rose was at twenty-five weeks pregnant now, and at their last scan, they had found that they were having a boy and a girl. The Doctor had been delighted at that, claiming that it was 'perfect'. The weather was getting progressively warmer too, as summer fast approached, and Rose couldn't wait for September when the twins were born. That was, of course, if she made it to the due date; the Doctor had given her an entire lecture on how twins were usually born early. Truth be told, Rose hoped they'd be born earlier. She'd always heard about how pregnancy went really fast, and how it was an absolute delight, but to be honest, Rose wasn't feeling either of these things at the moment. Although, the Doctor had been great, and hadn't protested once when Rose sent him out in the early hours of the morning for food that she was craving, and hadn't even blinked when Rose had had a mood swing and yelled at him before promptly bursting into tears.

"What time is it?" Rose asked tiredly.

"Just gone nine." The Doctor replied.

"You been up long?" Rose asked, noting that the Doctor was already dressed.

"A few hours." The Doctor answered casually "Did you sleep alright last night?"

"Not really. The babies kept kicking and turning last night. I swear they take after you." Rose complained, although she couldn't help but smile slightly.

**~StormWolf10~**

That night, when the Doctor came up to bed, he found Rose stood in front of their full length mirror, her pyjama top pushed up above her baby bump.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor asked, quickly crossing the room and wrapping his arm round Rose's waist.

"Nothing," Rose replied quietly.

The Doctor, however, was unconvinced.

"Come on, tell me what's wrong," the Doctor told her, kissing Rose on the side of the forehead.

Rose sighed.

"You're gonna laugh." She muttered.

"Promise I won't." the Doctor replied softly.

"It's stupid." Rose added.

"Don't care." The Doctor murmured.

"You're gonna tell me it doesn't matter." She continued.

"Well, that depends on what it is," the Doctor told Rose gently, watching their reflections in the mirror.

Rose sighed again and turned to face him. Her baby bump pressed into his stomach, but the Doctor kept his arms around her waist.

"I've got stretch marks," Rose murmured, catching the Doctor's eyes for only a few moments before ducking her head.

The Doctor's first reaction was to chuckle at how Rose was so embarrassed and uncomfortable with these small marks, but he quickly stopped himself, remembering that he'd promised not to laugh.

"Rose," the Doctor asked her softly, lifting Rose's chin gently so she'd meet his eyes again "why do the stretch marks bother you?"

Rose shrugged and went to duck her head again, but the Doctor stopped her.

"I dunno," Rose replied quietly "it's just… I dunno, even when- _if_- I lose the pregnancy weight after the twins have been born, they'll still be there. The stretch marks."

"Is that what you see when you look at them, then? These marks on your skin?" the Doctor asked.

His tone was curious, but Rose detected a hint of underlying sadness. Or disappointment.

"What do you see, then?" she asked, taking a deep breath.

"_I_, Miss Tyler, I see the evidence of the family we're starting together," the Doctor told her quietly, smiling slightly "of the life we're making together. For me, even when the twins are older, when they've moved out and have families of their own, I'll look at these small marks on your stomach and be reminded of how you spent nine months protecting our children and being so, so brave. I know it might not seem like it right now, but I think you'll come to love these little marks as much as me. Because you've earned them, Rose. All your courage, and determination and love, and these marks only serve to strengthen that."

Rose smiled up at the Doctor, eyes damp. She quickly tugged him down for a kiss.

"I think I just remembered why I fell in love with you again." Rose murmured, still smiling.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Attempting to get back into the farming side of things now…**

By the time Rose was twenty-nine weeks pregnant, she had made up her mind. She loved the home she and the Doctor shared, and wouldn't give their farm up for anything, but she missed her Mum. It had taken days for her to pluck up the courage to ask the Doctor, but finally Rose asked him to call Jackie. The Doctor had seemed a little reluctant at first, but upon seeing how much Rose wanted her Mum there, he quickly made the call. Now, the Doctor was dragging Jackie's suitcase up the staircase as Jackie rushed into the front room to see her daughter.

"Oh, let me look at you!" Jackie exclaimed upon seeing Rose.

Of course, apart from their regular phone calls, Jackie hadn't seen Rose for several months. Feeling a little self-conscious as her Mum looked her up and down, Rose smiled awkwardly.

"You've got quite a bump, haven't you?" Jackie commented, smiling, as she drew her daughter in for a hug.

"Yeah, well, twins do that to you." Rose replied dryly, smiling slightly.

Jackie finally released her daughter, and they sat down on the sofa again, descending into a slightly awkward silence.

"So…" Jackie began awkwardly after a few moments "have any more of the chickens been electrocuted recently?"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Have you two started on baby names yet?" Jackie asked, accepting a mug of tea from the Doctor.

"We've, uh, we've had a couple of attempts," the Doctor answered, tugging on his ear.

Jackie glanced between Rose and the Doctor, frowning slightly.

"What do you mean, 'attempts'?" Jackie asked.

"The Doctor keeps coming up with weird alien names." Rose replied, rolling her eyes.

"Rose keeps coming up with weird human names." The Doctor countered quickly.

"Well, surely there must be some names you both like," Jackie told them, sighing "I know picking names ain't easy, but you can't be telling me there's nothing you agree on."

"Well, I did suggest-" the Doctor began.

Rose cut him off quickly.

"We're not naming our son Reginald." Rose told him sternly.

Jackie gaped at the Doctor.

"You want to name your son after a _chicken_?!" she asked incredulously.

The Doctor blinked.

"It's a good, strong name." the Doctor replied, confused.

Rose sighed, rubbing her belly as the babies kicked again. This, at least, drew Jackie's concentration away from the Doctor and on to her daughter.

"Babies kicking?" she asked her daughter sympathetically.

Rose nodded, shifting slightly on the sofa.

"Keep me up all night, they do. They're like him," Rose replied, nodding towards the Doctor who merely grinned "always moving."

"Won't be for much longer," the Doctor replied "they'll be too big to move about much soon."

"Doesn't mean she'll be able to sleep any easier." Jackie retorted quickly, rounding on the Doctor "What are you planning to do about it?"

"Sorry?" the Doctor stuttered, brow furrowed.

Jackie rolled her eyes.

"No wonder you called for me, sweetheart. Himself seems clueless." Jackie told her daughter, nodding at the Doctor as she spoke "Now, how many pillows do you have upstairs?"

"Pillows?" Rose echoed in confusion.

"Believe me, sweetheart. You'll be wanting a lot of pillows." Jackie replied calmly.

**~StormWolf10~**

It actually took Jackie several hours to notice Rose's Forever ring. She had, of course, heard all about it from a rather excited Rose on the phone, but hadn't seen it. In fact, she only noticed it when she was passing Rose a glass of squash.

"Is that the ring?" Jackie asked, blinking.

"Yeah," Rose replied, sipping her drink.

It was mid-evening now, and the Doctor had headed out to get the farm animals back in the stables and barns for the night, leaving Rose with her Mum. Archie had happily accompanied the Doctor outside, although Rose suspected he wouldn't be helping round up the sheep. Even in the dim light of the sunset, Jackie could see that the ring was rather expensive.

"It's beautiful." Jackie murmured, sitting beside her daughter again.

"Yeah." Rose replied again, softly "I wanna get one for the Doctor."

Jackie nodded in understanding.

"How about I help you look tomorrow?" Jackie suggested "We could send the Doctor out for the day, get him to run some errands or something. Do you need any more stuff for the babies?"

Rose thought for a moment or two.

"We need nursery furniture, but we were going to go together for that." Rose admitted "But we could send him out to start looking at pushchairs and stuff. Maybe he could pick up some paint for the nurseries."

"He's set on having two nurseries, then?" Jackie asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, yeah. They'll be in with us for the first few months at least, but then they'll move into their own rooms." Rose explained, shrugging.

"You can change your mind, I suppose," Jackie told her daughter thoughtfully "if you want them to share a nursery, I mean. You're not due until, when? September 14th?"

"September 15th." Rose corrected "But I don't think we'll be changing our minds."

"And how are you going to continue with the farm?" Jackie asked "You've not even had your first full lot of crops from here yet."

Jackie had a point; most of the crops they'd planted when they moved in were still growing, although they had been able to sell some tomatoes and potatoes. Rose shrugged.

"We'll make it work, Mum. We'll, I dunno, take it in turns, or something. I don't know if you noticed, but the Doctor already has a farming schedule on the fridge."

"That's what that is!" Jackie realised, eyes widening

"Yeah, it's so he knows exactly what needs doing every day. And, we might have to get someone from the village to come up and keep an eye on the animals when I go into labour," Rose explained.

**~StormWolf10~**

It felt nice, Rose decided, to just sit and chat with her Mum. It was like old times, back in London, in the other world, with just her and Jackie. For once, it wasn't a fleeting visit before leaving to go and chase down monsters, and she wasn't going to be called out to go on some stupid Torchwood field mission. They could spend as much time as the liked, simply chatting and catching up. Talking about what Tony had done at school, about the stuck up snobs at Jackie's garden club, about random stuff neither of them really cared about. And that was when Rose realised. In years to come, she would be having conversations like these with her children.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Another chapter! Read and Review :)**

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he listened to one of the other couples at the childbirth class. Rose seemed equally annoyed by the couple, but at least if she yelled at them she could blame it on hormones. The couple in question were mid-to-late thirties, and were rather overbearing. Within minutes of arriving at the class, they'd attempted to get everyone to wear nametags, as a 'fun bonding exercise!' They had also seemed rather patronising to some of the younger couples there. The Doctor and Rose had been attending the classes for months, and knew that this couple was relatively new. They also knew that they weren't from Foxton. The classes they attended were attended by people from a scattering of close villages, and they'd never met this overbearing couple before.

"And I thought your Mother talked a lot." The Doctor whispered to Rose as the woman in the annoying couple continued nattering on.

Rose smirked, and turned her head to whisper back.

"Does this mean you won't get as annoyed with my Mum anymore?" Rose asked quietly.

"We-ell," the Doctor replied awkwardly, smiling slightly.

Rose giggled, but forced herself to calm down and concentrate on the class again. Jackie had stayed for two weeks, but had headed home after that, after Rose had gently told her that she was feeling better now, even if she did feel like she'd been pregnant for ages. Taking a deep breath, Rose was relieved to see that the teacher had finally managed to shut the annoying couple up, and the class was beginning.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose sighed, shifting in the bed again. At thirty-three weeks pregnant, the twins had finally begun settling down as they became too big to wriggle about a lot. That didn't, however, keep the twins from squirming about, and Rose had finally come to the conclusion that, like their Dad, these twins would never sit still. Glancing at the clock, Rose saw that it was little past two in the morning. She'd gone to bed at ten. Sighing again, Rose adjusted the pillow underneath her baby bump, realising her Mum had been right about needing lots of pillows. Recently, she'd found it too difficult to lay on her back due to the weight of the twins, but even on her side she still couldn't sleep. The summer heat wasn't really helping earlier, and Rose contemplated getting out of bed to open a window, but she really couldn't be bothered to move. She could wake the Doctor, but he was sleeping peacefully and would have to be up relatively early to see to the farm animals. Rose took a deep breath and closed her eyes, attempting to get back to sleep. The babies had dropped several days ago, at least making it easier for Rose to breathe, but she realised now that part of the reason she perhaps couldn't sleep was because she was panicking. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she slipped out of the bed. Rose suddenly had the urge to check on the nurseries, make sure everything was in place for the twins. The Doctor had already explained about how twins were usually born before their due date, and Rose's due date was fast approaching. Padding out of the bedroom and down the corridor slightly, she entered the first of the nurseries. It was painted with a Noah's ark theme, a border of animals encircling the room. The walls were light blue, and there was already a white wooden crib and changing table in the room, ready for their as-of-yet-unnamed son. Rose did a quick check of the little baby clothes in the chest of drawers, and headed out of the room. She entered the second nursery, which was painted a pale lilac colour with a border of butterflies on the walls. Like the other nursery, it had a white wooden crib, changing table and chest of drawers in it, and again Rose checked the baby clothes in the drawers.

"What are you doing, Rose?"

Rose spun round, shocked to see a bleary-eyed, tired Doctor in the doorway. He was dressed only in a pair of thin cotton pyjama bottoms and was watching Rose in confusion.

"I…I was just checking we had everything ready." Rose replied quietly.

The Doctor sighed, and quickly crossed the remaining space between them to wrap an arm round Rose's waist, leading her from the room.

"Rose, everything's fine. We have some outfits packed for the twins when they're born; the nurseries are painted and furnished, and we have the Moses baskets in our room." The Doctor told her, leading Rose back to their room.

"I know," Rose told him, sighing "I just…I panicked."

"You should have woken me," the Doctor told her gently.

Rose ducked her head, refusing to meet the Doctor's eyes. By now, they had reached their bedroom again, and as Rose headed over to the bed, the Doctor quickly crossed to open the window slightly. He then joined Rose in bed, but made no move to turn the lamp off and go back to sleep.

"You ok?" he asked Rose gently.

"Yeah," Rose answered quietly "just can't believe we're gonna be parents in a few weeks."

"Not long now," the Doctor assured her, kissing her forehead gently "now, get some sleep. These last few weeks will be the last time we can sleep through the night for months."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: So, yeah… Rating went up. Only because I'm overly cautious with things like this! Also, super-duper long chapter XD**

Rose blinked in the gloom of the night. It was August, and the window was open, allowing a gentle breeze to blow through the room. She should be asleep, she knew, but she had woken only moments before to find herself gripped by a short, dull pain. Thinking carefully to herself, Rose realised that she wasn't in any more pain now, so she closed her eyes again. She soon drifted back off to sleep, and when she woke again, it was from yet another pain. Glancing at the clock, Rose saw that it had been just over quarter of an hour since she'd last woken. Frowning to herself, she attempted to push herself into a sitting position, struggling with the added weight of the twins. Now sat up in bed, Rose switched the bedside lamp on and simply sat there for a while. She was sure it was nothing, but she doubted she'd be able to get back to sleep. The time ticked by slowly, and Rose busied herself with thumbing through the manual for their new camcorder. As yet another pain throbbed through her body, Rose's head shot up to look at the alarm clock. Still a little over quarter of an hour since the previous pain. Rose's brow furrowed as her brain processed the information. Suddenly, things from her childbirth classes came rushing back to her; she'd been having back pain since she'd woken over half an hour ago now, and pains coming frequently. Rose's eyes widened and she dropped the camcorder manual, reaching over to shake the Doctor awake.

"Doctor!" she whispered quietly.

He groaned, and muttered something, face-down on the pillow. Rose rolled her eyes and tried again. This time, the Doctor shot up suddenly, bleary-eyed and confused.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, frowning "What are you doing up at…" he glanced at the clock "two fifteen am?"

"I think I'm in labour." Rose told him quickly, serious.

The Doctor blinked owlishly for a few seconds, merely staring at her.

"Doctor," Rose prompted.

"Right, yes!" the Doctor announced, jumping out of bed.

He began running round the room, getting dressed as he asked Rose how far apart her contractions were.

"Just over quarter of an hour," Rose replied, torn between amusement and panic as she watched the Doctor rush around.

"Ok, that gives us enough time to get to the hospital," the Doctor murmured as he helped Rose to her feet.

He helped her dress in a loose t-shirt and pair of tracksuit bottoms, despite Rose's protests that it was August and she'd be too warm. As he helped Rose towards the door, he picked up Rose's overnight bag, which also contained clothes for the twins.

"Right," the Doctor murmured, more to himself than Rose "car seats are in the car, we've got the overnight bag, camera… Animals!"

"We're not taking Archie with us," Rose told the Doctor sternly as they began to make their way cautiously down the stairs.

"No, of course not!" the Doctor replied, offended that Rose thought he wanted to take the dog "I mean we need someone to keep an eye on the animals while we're gone!"

"Oh." Rose replied.

They were at the foot of the stairs now, and they both just stared at each other.

"Who do we know who won't mind getting woken up at two fifteen in the morning to come and look after our farm animals?" the Doctor thought aloud, brow furrowed.

Rose looked at him, already having an answer. However, upon realising what Rose was thinking, the Doctor's eyes went wide.

"No, Rose!" he protested.

"But, Doctor, it's the only solution. They won't mind. And, to be honest, I think they'd be annoyed if we didn't ask." Rose pointed out calmly.

The Doctor sighed and reached for the phone.

**~StormWolf10~**

Pete Tyler headed down the stairs, yawning as he wrapped his dressing gown around himself. Jackie was following him, already talking of giving whoever was on the phone a right earful for ringing at such a ridiculous time. Pete ignored his wife and reached for the phone.

"Hello?" Pete asked.

"Pete! It's the Doctor! Listen, we need a favour…" the Doctor began awkwardly.

"Who is it?" Jackie demanded.

Pete, however, held up a hand to silence his wife as he listened to what the Doctor had to say.

"Right, of course. We'll get Tony up and dressed and be on our way. Don't worry." Pete informed the Doctor calmly before hanging up the phone.

"Well?" Jackie demanded, arms folded as she glared at her husband.

"Rose is in labour. The Doctor needs us to go down to the farm and feed the animals and stuff. He said there's a schedule on the fridge." Pete explained.

However, it seemed that Jackie had heard nothing past 'Rose is in labour', and she was soon running back up the stairs, tugging her son out of bed and getting him dressed. Pete rolled his eyes and hurried up the stairs to go put some clothes on.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Alright?" the Doctor asked as another contraction finished and Rose eased her grip on his hand.

Rose nodded, eyes closed. They were in the car on the way to the hospital now, and the roads were clear due to the time.

"They're getting stronger," Rose replied, slightly breathless.

"We're almost there," the Doctor assured Rose gently.

Indeed they were, as they lived little more than fifteen minutes from the hospital. Rose suddenly shifted uncomfortably in the car, and the Doctor grimaced. They'd been told in the childbirth classes that it was normal to be restless in the early stages of labour, but right now Rose needed to sit tight. Once they were at the hospital, she could move about as much as she wanted. Only a few minutes later, they were pulling into the car park at Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Doctor all but fell out of the car, hurrying round to help Rose out. Grabbing the overnight bag, he locked the car and carefully walked Rose into the hospital. The Doctor had studied a map of the hospital intently so he knew the exact location of the maternity unit, and soon, he was helping Rose up to the nurses' station. Barely five minutes later, they were being led to a hospital room- private, thanks to Rose being the Vitex heiress, no doubt- where Rose was asked to change into a medical gown. The midwife then did an exam, before announcing that Rose was only three centimetres dilated.

"Three centimetres?!" Rose echoed, wide-eyed.

"I'm afraid so," the midwife replied, smiling gently "but don't worry. I'll be back in an hour to check on you."

The midwife left the room, and Rose immediately shifted on the bed, making to get off it. The Doctor frowned slightly, and Rose noticed.

"I need to move about," Rose replied.

The Doctor nodded, and quickly helped Rose off the bed. He watched as Rose began to pace the room, her hands on her back.

"We still need to decide on names, you know," Rose pointed out suddenly.

"And is Reginald still out of the question?" the Doctor asked, grinning cheekily.

Rose glared back.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Rose!"

Jackie Tyler swept into the hospital room, hurrying over to her daughter. Rose merely blinked in shock as she leant against the windowsill to wait out a contraction.

"Jackie," the Doctor piped up "what are you doing here?"

They'd been at the hospital for almost an hour and a half now, and it was four am in the morning.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Jackie asked, frowning "My daughter's in labour!"

"Well, yes, but I thought you'd be at the farm with Pete and Tony." The Doctor replied.

He was rubbing Rose's back, but seemed to be paying more attention to Jackie than Rose.

"Pete dropped me off here. Figured Rose would want me here." Jackie replied, stepping closer to the daughter.

As Rose's contraction finished, she straightened up slightly, although still reached for the Doctor's arm.

"Alright?" the Doctor asked gently.

Rose nodded.

"Yeah. Contractions are getting worse though." Rose replied quietly.

"Oh, sweetheart!" Jackie announced, quickly drawing Rose in for a hug "Come on, let's get you back into bed,"

Jackie began to lead Rose back towards the bed, but Rose protested.

"No, I'd rather stay on my feet, Mum. Besides, I'm only three centimetres dilated still." Rose replied, sighing.

"Three centimetres?" Jackie asked "When did they last check?"

"About half an hour ago." The Doctor replied, watching as Rose sat on the edge of the bed.

"And what pain medication are you having?" Jackie asked, sitting beside her daughter.

"None," Rose replied calmly "I want a natural birth."

Jackie looked at her daughter sceptically, but didn't say anything else.

**~StormWolf10~**

Back on the farm, Pete was peering in confusion at the schedule stuck to the fridge with a magnet. Obviously, the Doctor had written it in a way only he could understand as, instead of the blocks of time having words written in them, they were filled in with colours. Plucking the sheet from the fridge, Pete turned it over, hoping to find some kind of colour-coding system. Having no such luck, he instead located a pad of paper and a biro, and sat down, attempting to work it out for himself.

**~StormWolf10~**

As the hours wore on, Rose's contractions grew worse. She remained on her feet, leaning against the wall, the windowsill and- even on a few occasions- the Doctor. Rose tried to remain positive throughout, talking and laughing with her Mum, and only returning to the bed when the midwife came in to check her progress. However, when the contractions started to become more intense, Rose found herself squatting at the foot of the bed, breathing through the pain. By sunrise, Rose was four centimetres dilated, and by the time she'd been in labour ten hours, she was five centimetres dilated. Pete phoned at lunch time to see how Rose was getting on, and Jackie ended up having to have a thirty minute chat with Tony, who wanted to tell his Mum how he'd been playing fetch with Archie. Rose was now in active labour, but was still insisting on remaining on her feet.

"How is she?" Jackie asked quietly when she returned.

Rose was blowing through a contraction, which seemed to be lasting a rather long time.

"Ok," the Doctor replied "they've just checked her dilation again and she's still at five centimetres."

Jackie sighed, and sat down in the only armchair in the room, watching her daughter carefully.

**~StormWolf10~**

By the time Rose was close to transition, the sun had begun to set and Pete had phoned to say that he'd had to put Tony to bed. It was eight in the evening, and Rose was at seven centimetres after being in labour for eighteen hours.

"Looks like these twins have your impeccable time-keeping skills too, Doctor," Jackie announced suddenly.

The Doctor frowned in confusion, and Rose giggled.

"Twelve hours, twelve months?" Jackie reminded him.

The Doctor sighed.

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" the Doctor asked.

"Probably not," Rose admitted, still chuckling.

However, the conversations soon fell away from anything important or serious as Rose reached eight centimetres and her contractions became even more intense.

"It's the transition phase," the Doctor announced, hands in pockets as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

Rose nodded distractedly, breathing through her contraction as Jackie rubbed her back. As soon as the contraction finished, Rose moved, trying to get off the bed again.

"Rose, are you sure?" Jackie asked her daughter gently, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Rose nodded.

"Need to move about," Rose told them tiredly.

The Doctor and Jackie dutifully helped Rose to her feet, and the Doctor noticed that Jackie was watching rather nervously as Rose paced the room. There was suddenly a sharp, gushing noise, and Rose immediately stilled, reaching out shakily for the Doctor. She moaned slightly, leaning into the Doctor's embrace.

"Was that..?" she asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, your waters just broke. I think we probably need to get you back into bed, ok?" the Doctor told her gently.

Rose nodded, and Jackie and the Doctor quickly helped her back into the bed.

**~StormWolf10~**

As it turned out, that had been a wise move; by the time Rose had been in transition ten minutes, she began feeling rather shaky, although she wasn't sure if it was pain or nerves. The midwife calmly informed them that that could sometimes happen during transition, and also assured Rose that it wasn't uncommon to feel shivery and sick. It also didn't help that Rose seemed to have exhausted herself by remaining on her feet for so long, as all she wanted to do was lay down. The Doctor remained at her side constantly, and Jackie noted that he'd produced a soft sponge from somewhere, and had dampened it in the adjoining bathroom to wipe Rose's forehead and neck. For the first time since turning up at the hospital, Jackie began wondering whether Rose really needed her there; the Doctor was being such a devoted father Jackie wasn't sure there was anything more she could do for her daughter. Rose's contractions were becoming much longer and stronger, and Jackie winced as she saw her daughter grip the Doctor's hand tight. To his credit, the Doctor barely even flinched, and Jackie found herself wondering if she'd been that bad when she was in labour. Rose's quiet, shaky voice suddenly cut through the silence.

"I wanna push."

"I'll go find the midwife." Jackie announced, hurrying from the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I can't!" Rose cried, tears of pain running down her cheeks "Please, I can't!"

"Yes, you can, Rose," the Doctor told her gently, kissing her cheek.

The Doctor was now sat behind Rose on the bed to support her, while Jackie sat beside the bed holding Rose's hand. It was now ten to twelve at night, and Rose was so, so close to pushing their first child out into the world. She had been in labour for over twenty two hours now, and was utterly exhausted. Rose cried out as another contraction wracked her, and she began pushing again. She could feel the baby moving lower, and she was almost excited that it would soon be over, before she remembered that she had another baby to push out. As she pushed again, she felt a hot, stinging sensation, and was vaguely aware of the midwife telling her that the baby was crowning. Another push and, as Rose paused to catch her breath, she noticed the midwife doing something to the baby; clearing its airways, Rose realised. The next few minutes was a bit of a blur, and a few more pushes later, the tiny body slipped out of her in a flood or warmth.

"Baby boy, born at eleven fifty-five pm, August 31st 2015." The midwife announced.

The baby was taken away by a nurse to de cleaned off and weighed, his cries piercing the air. Within moments, however, Rose was pushing again, and only a few minutes later, her daughter was crying out.

"Baby girl, born at eleven fifty-nine, August 31st 2015."

**~StormWolf10~**

Once Rose had delivered the placenta and the babies had been swaddled, the midwife and nurses left them alone for a while, saying they'd drop by in an hour or so. While Rose and the Doctor- now squashed side by side on the bed- cradled their newborns, Jackie quietly located the digital camera the Doctor had brought with them and quickly took a few photos. Rose looked up, momentarily shocked, as did the Doctor, but they merely smiled and left Jackie to it.

"Looks like these two were determined to be summer babies, eh?" Jackie laughed, sitting down again.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, not taking her eyes off her little girl in her arms.

"Do you have names yet?" Jackie asked quietly, watching her two grandchildren fondly.

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other hesitantly, and Jackie noticed the look they shared. It was the look they always had when they weren't sure they should tell Jackie.

"We, um, we did, yeah," Rose replied quietly.

She was glad that she was already a little flushed from the labour, else her Mum would have noticed her blushing.

"Well?" Jackie prompted eagerly, already reaching for her mobile.

"They're not exactly _conventional_ names," the Doctor explained evasively "but we finally settled on names not long before you arrived, actually. Our son is going to be Gallifrey Jack Michael Noble, and our daughter is Debenhams Martha Donna Noble."

Jackie blinked.

"Debenhams?" she echoed, eyes flicking down to her newborn granddaughter in Rose's arms.

"Yes," the Doctor replied calmly "Debenhams was an old friend of mine. Many years ago. She was, in fact, Queen of Shallacatop. Lovely woman."

"We'll call her Debs for short," Rose added quickly, worried about her Mum's silence.

Jackie blinked again.

"Just as well the Debenhams stores don't exist in this world, isn't it?" Jackie asked her daughter suddenly, beginning to chuckle.

It was now Rose's turn to merely blink, as she watched her Mum dissolve into giggles.

"So you're not angry then?" Rose asked tentatively.

"Oh, sweetheart, I think I pretty much expected the twins to have…_unusual_ names." Jackie told her daughter through her giggles. Taking a deep breath and calming herself, she continued "And, to be honest, the names suit them."

Rose let out a sigh of relief, and relaxed back against the pillows.

"Now," Jackie continued, pulling her mobile out to take another photo "how about a quick photo to send to your Dad?"


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Another chapter. No farming in this chapter…Whoops!**

"Why does his face look all squished?" Tony asked, his nose wrinkling slightly as he looked at his nephew.

Pete chuckled, ruffling his four year old son's hair.

"That's because he's only a few hours old, son," Pete told his son gently.

"Oh." Tony replied quietly, returning to peering at his niece and nephew, being held by the Doctor and Jackie respectively.

Pete and Tony had arrived only ten minutes before, after seeing to the farm animals for the day. Tony had been quite excited at the prospect of meeting his niece and nephew for the first time, but had been disappointed upon finding that they were far too small to play pirates with him. In fact, they couldn't even hold their heads up. Within a few minutes of being there, Tony had been told off by his Mum for poking the babies, to which he'd replied that they weren't doing anything.

"They've not got much hair," Pete commented quietly.

He was sat on a chair beside Rose's bed, watching his grandchildren quietly, a small smile on his face.

"And Gallifrey has Rose's hair," the Doctor added, smiling fondly at his son, who was squirming slightly in Jackie's arms.

It was true; while Debenhams had her father's brown hair, Gallifrey had only a smattering of fair blond hair on his head.

"When are we going back to the farm?" Tony asked suddenly, tearing his gaze from his nephew in his Mum's arms to look at his Dad.

"Later on, son," Pete replied "we've just got to wait for the midwives to tell Rose when she can go home."

Tony blinked, and then hurried to the bed, climbing up to sit with his sister. He didn't, however, stop watching his niece and nephew.

"Can I hold them?" Tony asked suddenly.

The four adults looked at each other, and all shrugged.

"Ok," the Doctor told the little boy "but it'll have to be one at a time. They're a bit wriggly."

Pete chuckled again at that.

"So basically, they take after you, Doctor?" Pete asked, grinning "Never sit still?"

"Yep," Rose replied, rolling her eyes, although she was smiling "don't know how I'm gonna cope with three of them."

The Doctor carefully transferred little Debenhams to Tony's arms, and Rose helped her little brother cradle the infant to him. Jackie had been delighted earlier when the Doctor had passed both twins to her to take a photo of her with them, and so the Doctor decided it would be a good idea to do the same for Tony.

"There we go, just hold the head like that…" Rose told Tony gently, helping him hold the little girl properly.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had located the digital camera, and quickly snapped a photo. Glancing at the little screen, the Doctor saw that it was nothing less than a perfect photo.

**~StormWolf10~**

By lunchtime, Rose was allowed to go home, as were the twins. Despite Tony having to be back at school in a few days, the Doctor and Rose had managed to persuade Jackie and Pete to at least stay until the evening so that they could spend some more time with the twins before they went back to London. Of course, upon walking through the door, they were greeted by a rather eager Archie who, although he was no longer a puppy, was still rather excitable (although he still refused to approach sheep, much to the Doctor's confusion) and was bounding round their feet. The Doctor managed to distract the dog by heading to the kitchen to feed him while Rose and Jackie took the twins through to the front room. Little Tony followed eagerly; ever since he'd been allowed to hold the twins at the hospital, he'd been determined to help his sister and help look after them. Once Archie was in the kitchen happily eating, the Doctor returned to the front room.

"I'll make sure to email you those photos when I've got the time, Pete," the Doctor informed the other man.

"Don't worry, Doctor. Whenever you've got time will be fine." Pete replied.

They had taken a lot of photos at the hospital, including several of Jackie, Pete and Tony with the twins. The Doctor was hoping to convert them to black and white and print them off to frame them. The Doctor frowned as Jackie saw Pete whisper something to Pete, whose brow furrowed and he glanced at his watch.

"Ah," Pete announced suddenly, getting to his feet "I have to go and pick some things up. I'll be back in half hour or so,"

"Ok, Dad," Rose replied, although she looked as confused as the Doctor felt.

Moments later, Pete was out the front door.

**~StormWolf10~**

Pete returned just over half an hour later, as predicted, looking rather proud of himself. He entered the front room and headed straight over to the Doctor and Rose, who were curled up on the sofa while Jackie cooed over the twins in her arms. Tony was on the floor, playing with Archie, and Pete had to sidestep slightly to avoid tripping on the dog.

"Doctor, Rose," Pete announced uncertainly "Jaqs and I bought something for you."

The Doctor and Rose both frowned slightly, sitting up more as Pete reached in his pocket. He drew out two ring boxes, handing the slightly larger one to the Doctor while Rose had the smaller box. Brows still furrowed, they both opened the boxes, before their eyes went wide.

"Mum, Dad, we can't accept these!" Rose protested weakly, looking up at her parents.

"Nonsense. We've bought stuff for the twins, why can't we buy something for you two?" Jackie asked indignantly.

The Doctor nodded slightly, seeing Jackie's point. Then he noticed the engravings on the rings.

"When did you get these done?" he asked Pete.

"This morning. I dropped by a jewellers on the way to the hospital. Jackie had already picked out the rings online, all I had to do was tell them what to engrave on the rings and which birthstone to put in." Pete explained.

The rings Pete and Jackie had bought them were family rings, Rose noted, inset with the twins' birthstone; an olive green peridot. The bands of the rings were engraved with the twins' names; Gallifrey and Debenhams.

"They're…They're beautiful." Rose murmured, looking at the rings.

"Just like your twins," Jackie replied, smiling.

**A/N 2: The Doctor's ring: **** . **/user/StormieCenturion/media/Shtuff/ring3_.html?sort=3&o=0

**Rose's ring: **** . **/user/StormieCenturion/media/Shtuff/ring2_ .html?sort=3&o=0


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Another chapter! I'm admittedly running out of ideas for when the twins are this small…Would anyone object to a slight time skip? It'll only be by a few months… Also, sorry, but all the links for the rings don't seem to be working…**

**Disclaimer (because I don't think I've done one yet): I own none of the characters except Archie the dog…And the chickens, sheep and cows…**

"I'm back," the Doctor called as he stepped into the farmhouse.

He quickly took his shoes off and padded over to the sitting room, patting Archie as he bounded round his feet.

"Did you pick the photos up?" Rose asked, looking round as the Doctor entered the room.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied quietly, lifting up the carrier bag so she could see it "how've the twins been.

"As wriggly as ever," Rose replied, smirking.

The twins were just over a week old now, and it had only taken a few days for the Doctor and Rose to discover that both babies were colicky. This was, of course, fine- if a little emotionally wearing- when both the Doctor and Rose were around, but while the Doctor was out on the farm, it became a little awkward. Rose was cradling both babies close to her, and the Doctor quickly put the carrier bag down and relieved Rose of Gallifrey, who was wriggling again.

"I picked up a photo album as well," the Doctor added as he sat down on the sofa beside Rose "I thought we could start that later on when we take the twins upstairs."

Rose nodded, smiling slightly as Debenhams gripped her finger in her small hand.

"I think we should try bathing them today," Rose announced suddenly, not looking up from Debenhams "I mean, properly bathing them. We've got the baby baths and everything."

"Are you sure? You were a little worried yesterday about attempting it," the Doctor reminded her gently.

"I know, but…I dunno, I want to do it." Rose replied, looking up at the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded.

"Ok, how about we do it before we take them upstairs to settle them down?" the Doctor suggested.

Rose nodded, smiling.

"As long as we can keep Archie out of the room," Rose answered.

**~StormWolf10~**

That evening, after the babies had been fed, the Doctor and Rose took the twins upstairs to their bedroom. The Doctor had already set everything up to bathe the babies while Rose fed them, and it would be their first time properly bathing the twins, as they'd been topping and tailing them instead. However, the warm water of the bath seemed to be a blessing as, as soon as Gallifrey was settled into the little baby tub, he stopped being so wriggly. The Doctor bathed Debenhams at the same time, and they were soon lifting the babies out of the baths and patting them dry before putting dry nappies on them. They dressed the babies in clean onesies and placed them in their Moses baskets.

"I'm just gonna go grab the photos, ok?" the Doctor told Rose gently, hurrying back downstairs.

He returned barely a minute later to find that the twins were already asleep; evidently, baths were one thing that relaxed them. The Doctor crossed to the bed, sitting down and pulling the photos out of the bag as Rose joined him. Rose gasped as he pulled a large canvas print out of the bag.

"That's…" she murmured, wide-eyed.

"I figured I might as well buy a canvas print; we both said we liked the photo," the Doctor replied, grinning.

Rose grinned back. The canvas print was one of the photos Jackie had taken of them not long after the twins had been born. The Doctor had converted it into black and white, and it was a simple photo of the Doctor and Rose sat side by side on the bed, holding their twins. As they began sorting through the rest of the photos for the photo album, they began to decide which order they should go in.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor and Rose had only just started putting the photos into the photo album when Gallifrey started crying. The Doctor quickly got up and crossed to the Moses basket, picking Gallifrey up and holding him close, rocking him. However, by that point, Gallifrey's crying had woken his sister, and, sighing, Rose stood up to see to Debenhams. The new parents periodically began checking to see if the infants were hungry or wet, but when both realised that these weren't the causes of the twins' crying, they settled themselves back into bed, cradling the babies to them. When that didn't work, they tried pacing the room, rocking the babies. In the end, Rose was growing tired, still not completely recovered from the labour, so the Doctor took both twins, and when Rose woke up from her doze, the Doctor was singing softly to the twins. Smiling softly, Rose fell asleep again.

**~StormWolf10~**

The next morning, the Doctor and Rose were up early with the twins, and the Doctor quickly hurried out to the farm to see to the animals before returning to the farmhouse. When he returned, the Doctor was directed to a small box on the coffee table by Rose.

"What's this?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"Open it and find out," Rose replied, grinning.

She then returned her attention to the twins as she positioned them to feed them. Brow furrowed, the Doctor opened the box. And gaped.

"Rose, this is…This is lovely," the Doctor breathed, looking up at Rose.

Rose shrugged slightly.

"Figured it was only right that you got a Forever ring too," Rose replied, smiling slightly.

The Doctor grinned back. His Forever ring was silver with infinity symbols looping round it, and was clearly quite expensive.

"I love it," the Doctor assured her, leaning down to kiss Rose.

He then moved to sit beside Rose, watching Rose feed the twins fondly.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's quite short, but there really isn't much to write about..**

Christmas rounded on the Doctor and Rose fairly quickly, and it was soon Christmas Eve. The months had gone by in a flurry of phone calls to Jackie and Pete, nappy changes, snatched minutes of sleep and juggling the farming schedule. The twins were nearly four months old now, and were growing more and more every day. However, to Tony's disappointment, they were still too young to play pirates with him, so he had to settle with playing with Archie instead. Same as the previous year, Jackie, Pete and Tony were at Noble farm, and same as last year, there was a fair bit of snow. The Doctor had already been down to the village to buy more milk in case they got snowed in. Jackie and Pete were delighted to see the twins again, particularly as the twins were so much more alert than the last time they'd seen them.

"They're just as wriggly as ever, I see," Pete remarked as Rose passed Gallifrey to him.

Rose grinned.

"Yeah, just about the one thing that settles them is when we give them a warm bath. Or when the Doctor sings to them." Rose replied.

**~StormWolf10~**

Later that evening, when Tony and the twins were asleep, the Doctor and Rose showed Jackie and Pete the photo album. Of course, Jackie and Pete had been emailed most of the photos, but Jackie was still insistent upon seeing them. This was partially because they'd added more photos of the twins to the album since then. They then began setting out the presents under the tree, and Rose rolled her eyes when she saw several presents that Jackie and Pete had bought the twins.

"Mum, even the Doctor and I haven't gotten them that much! There's not that much the twins need!" Rose pointed out.

Jackie shrugged as she continued to stuff presents into the twins' new Christmas stockings. Pete merely grinned and continued to stack more presents under the tree.

"Are the twins sleeping alright now?" Jackie asked, looking up suddenly.

"They're still up every hour or so," the Doctor answered, sighing "it doesn't help that when one of them wakes, they set the other one off."

Pete smiled sympathetically at the Doctor.

"I remember when Tony was that age. At least you don't have to argue over whose turn it is to get up," Pete pointed out "there's two babies so you both have to get up."

"I suppose," Rose admitted tiredly.

**~StormWolf10~**

The next morning, the Doctor and Rose were up early, as were Tony and the twins. The Doctor managed to buy Jackie and Pete some more time in bed by getting Tony to help him out with the animals while Rose changed and fed the twins. By the time that had all happened, Pete and Jackie had dragged themselves out of bed and gotten dressed. They all met downstairs for breakfast before heading into the sitting room. Almost immediately, the Doctor had the camcorder out.

"They won't be doing much," Rose pointed out, smirking.

"I know," the Doctor replied "but it's their first Christmas."

Rose nodded, leaving the Doctor to it, and they let Tony unwrap his presents first before Pete took the camcorder from the Doctor and filmed the Doctor and Rose with the twins. Of course, the Doctor and Rose were the ones who unwrapped the twins' presents, but the twins seemed more than happy with the cuddly toys they'd gotten from their grandparents. While Gallifrey had a soft white puppy toy, Debenhams had a soft white rabbit toy. Pete and Jackie had also bought the twins a baby blanket each, and some more toys. The Doctor and Rose had been practical and, although they'd gotten the twins some toys, had left it at that. Tony, of course, had several toy cars, that Archie was trying to steal whenever he thought no one was looking. Like every other day with the twins, the day was hectic, and there certainly didn't seem to be enough hours to get everything done. And then, just like that, the twins' first Christmas was over far too soon.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: The chapters are getting a little easier to write again now, thanks to the time skip. The twins are a little older here, although we did skip the Doctor's birthday *facepalm***

By the time the twins were eight months, they were crawling about. Although it made absolutely brilliant video footage to send to Jackie and Pete, it was nothing but trouble for the Doctor and Rose. Gone were the days when they could nip out the sitting room to fetch the post, or quickly feed Archie, as every time they left the twins unaccompanied, the Doctor and Rose came back to find the twins at least halfway across the sitting room, trying to escape. The twins had grown a lot by now, and their personalities were certainly beginning to come through. Both twins were energetic and curious, and were already trying to walk- which resulted in quite a few bumps and bruises. It was certainly safe to say that they took after their father in that respect, because they rarely sat still. Both twins also had the Doctor cheeky grin. However, while Debenhams had the Doctor's untameable brown hair and freckles, Gallifrey had his Mum's blonde hair- although his too was pretty untameable. The twins had also picked up the rather awkward habit of tugging on Archie's tail to try and drag him closer to them. Although the Doctor and Rose knew they were only doing this because they wanted to pet the border collie, it was causing problems as Archie kept trying to nip them. The Doctor and Rose had also settled into a routine where they'd have breakfast and feed the twins before tending to the farm animals so that they could take it in turns. This meant that Rose still got to help out on the farm rather than just looking after the twins, as she was responsible for letting the animals out every other morning.

"Are all the animals alright?" the Doctor asked when Rose returned from seeing to the animals.

Rose nodded, and sat on the sofa, watching him. The Doctor was in the sitting room with the twins, who were happily playing with their toys

"Yeah, they're all fine," Rose replied.

"No foxes?" the Doctor asked.

"No, looks like we've managed to scare them off again." Rose answered.

It was the end of April, and they'd been on the farm a year and a half now. They'd already started selling some of their fruit and vegetables at the village shop, as well as some of their eggs.

"How were the twins?" Rose asked, watching fondly as Gallifrey and Debenhams played with their toys.

"They've been tugging Archie's tail again. He's none too happy about it." The Doctor answered with a sigh.

"That'll be why he's curled up in his basket in the kitchen, then," Rose sighed, moving to sit on the floor with the twins.

**~StormWolf10~**

Preparing lunch was a well-choreographed routine for the Doctor and Rose. They'd been together for over two years now, and could anticipate what the other needed before they asked for it. The twins had been started on solid food almost two months ago now, and it at least made mealtimes a little easier as the Doctor and Rose could feed one each, although they were still breastfeeding them at night before bed. Of course, as the twins took after their father and were still very much wriggly, it often took quite a while to feed them, particularly when the twins decided they'd rather throw the food than eat it. The Doctor sighed, standing up from his chair to fetch some kitchen roll.

"You might as well wait until they've finished, you know," Rose pointed out to her partner, grinning.

"I suppose you're right," the Doctor admitted.

He did, however, pick up the kitchen roll before dropping back into his chair. It took almost half an hour for the twins to stop playing with their food and actually eat it, by which time both the Doctor and Rose had stopped being amused by it. Once the twins were cleaned up, they changed their nappies and took the twins outside.

**~StormWolf10~**

The first time the twins had felt grass, they'd been extremely curious, much to Rose's own confusion. When Tony had been the twins' age, he'd screamed and cried when Jackie had taken him out into the garden to feel grass for the first time. But of course, the twins had their parents' curiosity, and had been delighted when the chickens came near to them. In the months since their first venture outside, the Doctor and Rose often took the twins into the garden, taking advantage of the rapidly warming weather. The twins were fascinated by the chickens, and watched Arthur and the sheep through the fence, although the Doctor and Rose thought it best not to let the twins near them yet. Despite only being eight months old, it was clear that the twins were already used to their farmyard lifestyle, and Rose was sure that- when they were old enough- they'd be causing havoc on the farm.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: How did this even happen?! This was meant to be a humorous oneshot! Anywho, here's chapter twenty-one! **

Gallifrey began sobbing immediately, and Rose bounced her year old son on her knee, trying to calm him. They were currently in the village doctor's surgery so that the twins could have some injections. Of course, the injections were over quickly, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. The Doctor had Debenhams on his lap, and she'd stopped crying now, but was far from happy.

"There, all done," Doctor Lyons announced, smiling warmly.

"Thanks," Rose thanked Doctor Lyons, smiling awkwardly.

She pulled the buggy over, strapping Gallifrey in before the Doctor slid Debenhams in to her seat. They bid Doctor Lyons goodbye before heading out of the office. Once the Doctor had negotiated the small waiting room and managed to get the buggy out of the small GP surgery, they began the walk back through Foxton and up to the farm. As they headed through the village, the Doctor and Rose said hello to some of the villagers as they passed. However, just as they were heading past the village shop, they were stopped by the owner of the shop- Lorraine Nicolson- hurrying out, smiling.

"Oh, I'm so glad I caught you two!" Lorraine exclaimed "I've got something for the twins,"

"You didn't have to do that, Lorraine!" Rose told her, smiling as Lorraine handed over two small gift bags.

"Nonsense," Lorraine replied "Foxton's a small village. We're a family. Besides, it's their first birthday,"

Gallifrey made a squeaking noise at that, grinning at Lorraine, who waved to him.

"Well, I'd better get back to the shop, but I hope these two have fun today!" Lorraine announced, waving goodbye as she went to head back into the store.

The Doctor and Rose bid her goodbye and set off again towards the farm.

**~StormWolf10~**

Just as the Doctor was navigating the muddy tracks leading up to Noble farm, Rose let out a squeak of surprise.

"What?" the Doctor asked, brow furrowing.

"That's Dad's car. Rose answered, nodding at the Lexus just visible in the farm.

"Huh. Well, that'll be nice for the twins. As long as your Mum hasn't gone overboard with presents…" the Doctor trailed off as they reached the gates of the farm.

Jackie was sat on the doorstep while Pete leant against the wall. Tony was peering through the window, and Rose figured that Archie was there.

"Rose!" Jackie exclaimed, spotting them.

Jackie quickly climbed to her feet, and Rose internally braced herself for one of her Mother's crushing hugs. But it never came. Instead, Jackie had made a beeline straight for the twins. In fact, Jackie was already lifting Gallifrey out of the buggy, sitting him on her hip.

"Hello, sweetheart," Jackie cooed to the little boy, grinning.

Gallifrey giggled, burying his face in Jackie's neck. They were lucky, in that respect, that the twins were often so relaxed around strangers. The children were quite happy to let people from the village hold them, and this was a good thing seeing as Jackie and Pete hadn't seen the children for eight months.

"Hope you don't mind us dropping by like this, Rose," Pete announced, approaching his daughter and her family "but we figured that it's only just over an hour's drive, and it would be nice to see the twins on their birthday."

"No, no, that's fine, Dad," Rose replied as she hugged her Dad "it's great seeing you again!"

They headed inside, Tony heading straight for the sitting room to play with Archie. The Doctor lifted Debenhams out of the buggy and set her on the floor. Much to Jackie and Pete's excitement, the little girl remained standing, albeit holding onto the Doctor's leg.

"Are they walking yet?" Jackie asked, setting Gallifrey down.

"Sort of." Rose replied "They'll walk a couple of steps with our help but as soon as we let go they fall over."

"Oh, you were the same!" Jackie chimed in, grinning "You were perfectly fine all the time you were holding this cuddly toy of yours. Then, the moment I took it off you, you fell over."

**~StormWolf10~**

By lunchtime, the twins had opened their presents- still with a little help from the Doctor and a rather impatient Tony- and were happily playing with them. Gallifrey was happily sat on a ride-on fire engine, although still had yet to work out how to actually move it himself, while Debenhams was playing with her new dolls house. The Doctor had whipped out the camcorder to show Jackie and Pete the exact moment (fortunately caught on camera) when the twins had begun taking their first steps. Rose couldn't help but feel slightly bad as she watched the joy on her parents' faces upon seeing the video of their grandchildren taking their first steps; Jackie and Pete were missing out on so much of Gallifrey and Debenhams' lives thanks to work and the distance between their homes. She really did wish that Jackie and Pete could be around more, but Rose also knew she wouldn't give their farm up for anything. Because, as much as Jackie had doubted them at first, the Doctor and Rose really had made it work, and they really had made it their home.

**A/N 2: For those of you wondering what Gallifrey and Debenhams look like (or, at least, what **_**I**_** think they look like), head to my deviantart account StormWolfRoranicus, then go to my gallery, go to the fanfiction folder and it's the first drawing there :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: A longer chapter this time :) Bit of sibling rivalry beginning here.**

It was October, and the Doctor and Rose were outside on the farm with the twins. The Doctor was doing repairs to the chicken coop while the twins played with Rose. Rose was encouraging the two toddlers to roll a ball back and forth to each, which they were doing quite happily, although they were occasionally distracted by the chickens. Rose still found it hard to believe some days that the twins were actually hers and the Doctor's. They'd grown up so much, and were already insisting on drinking from plastic toddler cups instead of bottles, much to the Doctor's amusement- it was clear that they'd inherited their Mother's stubborn streak.

"Are the twins alright?" the Doctor called over in a pause from repairing the coop.

"Yep," Rose called back, smiling.

However, Rose suddenly felt a hand on her arm, and she looked down to see Gallifrey pulling himself to his feet, still clutching his soft dog toy in one hand. He gurgled, grinning at Rose before crouching down and peering into the grass.

"What's this, eh?" Rose asked Gallifrey, smiling at him.

Gallifrey grinned and gurgled again, pointing at a bug in the grass. Debenhams crawled over, intent on seeing what her brother had found. A delighted smile spread across Debenhams' face upon seeing the bug. And then, without warning, Debenhams turned to face her father before bellowing one word, loud and clear to attract his attention.

"DADDY!"

The Doctor looked up suddenly, dropping the hammer and spinning on his heels. He blinked, looking at his daughter in shock, before looking to his partner. Rose looked equally shocked, and the Doctor quickly hurried over to his daughter, lifting her into his arms.

"What was that, Debenhams?" he asked, still shocked.

"Daddy!" Debenhams repeated, giggling and clapping her hands.

The Doctor grinned.

"That's right, sweetheart!" the Doctor exclaimed, bouncing his daughter slightly before kissing her forehead.

Rose noticed Gallifrey frown slightly, and the little boy suddenly toddled shakily over to his Dad, holding his arms up. The Doctor quickly bent down and lifted Gallifrey into his arms. Gallifrey laughed and quickly snuggled down with his head in the crook of the Doctor's neck.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose was very much aware that her twins were rather active and excitable, but they'd never had problems with the twins fighting until now. It had started out as a fun activity, with Rose and the Doctor helping the toddlers build towers from their building blocks, but quite by accident, Debenhams had knocked Gallifrey's over. Immediately, the Doctor and Rose had responded with an 'Uh oh!' and 'Oh dear' before Gallifrey could begin crying, and quickly began encouraging him to rebuild his small tower. However, Gallifrey clearly had other ideas, as he promptly knocked over his sister's tower. This, of course, set Debenhams off, and the little girl was soon in tears. However, while Rose was telling Gallifrey off and explaining to the little boy what he'd done wrong (although Rose wasn't sure whether Gallifrey was old enough to understand), Debenhams retaliated by throwing a block at her brother. Unfortunately, the twins were sat within touching distance, and they soon began hitting each other. The Doctor and Rose quickly pulled the twins apart before looking at each other, wide-eyed.

"Now what?" the Doctor asked Rose quietly.

Rose's brow furrowed as she tried to remember what her Mum had done to her when she was little and had had a tantrum, and what she'd done to Tony.

"Naughty corner." Rose announced suddenly.

"Well, where?" the Doctor asked, glancing round their sitting room.

"One in here, one in the library?" Rose suggested.

The Doctor nodded and quickly swung Debenhams into his arms, carrying her to their library. The library was usually the one place the toddlers didn't venture, and it was great when either the Doctor or Rose needed some time alone while the other looked after the twins. Now, however, it also doubled as a great timeout area. Quickly sitting Debenhams down in the corner, the Doctor explained to the little girl exactly what she'd done wrong.

"You mustn't hit or throw things at your brother, ok?" the Doctor told Debenhams, who merely looked up at her Dad with tear-filled brown eyes "So you have to stay here for a minute and a half then you can go back and play."

And with that, the Doctor straightened up and headed out the library. He left the door ajar so he could see if Debenhams started wandering about. Just then, Rose came out of the sitting room, also pulling the door to. They looked at each other.

"A minute and a half?" the Doctor asked.

"A minute and a half." Rose agreed.

And so, the Doctor and Rose slid down the wall to sit on the floor, waiting for the minute and a half to pass.

"I can't believe that just happened," Rose murmured, unable to stop herself from laughing slightly.

"Actually, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner!" the Doctor replied, smiling slightly.

However, the Doctor's face fell when he realised something.

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"It's only going to get worse from here, isn't it? The fighting, I mean." The Doctor murmured, brow furrowing.

Rose sighed.

"I suppose. I didn't think of that. I mean, there's twenty-one years between me and Tony, so I kind of forgot about sibling rivalry." Rose admitted.

"And to think, knocking each other's building blocks over is just the start. Then it'll be whose turn it is to play on the games console, whose turn it is to do the chores, who has to feed the chickens. And that's before they're even teenagers! They'll be arguing over whose fault it was that they were home late, and which one of them forgot to phone us…" the Doctor trailed off, wide-eyed.

"They won't be that bad and chaotic, will they?" Rose asked, feeling slightly panicked now.

"Rose, they have my energy, your stubbornness and our curiosity. They'll be so, so brilliant. And so, so chaotic!" the Doctor told her.

They sank into silence for a few moments, mulling it over in their heads.

"Anyway," the Doctor announced suddenly, cheerful "a minute and a half's up!"


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: AAAANNNDD another chapter! :) Enjoy!**

It had been five months since Debenhams had said her first word, and she had been talking more and more. Gallifrey, however, remained worryingly silent. Rose was assured by Doctor Lyons that there was nothing wrong with her son, and it may just be that his sister was becoming so chatty that he didn't feel the need to speak. It was true; Debenhams hardly ever seemed to shut up now, despite only knowing a handful of words. Rose began to get the two toddlers ready for a trip down to Foxton, and the twins happily retrieved their coats from the low coat hooks the Doctor had constructed for them. The Doctor himself had gone out for the day, intending to go and look at some more animals. He'd already explained to Rose that he was considering getting a Shetland pony or two for when the twins were old enough to ride, but wanted to get them soon so that the children could get to know them. And so, this left Rose alone to take the children down to the village shop. Bundling the toddlers in their coats and wellies to protect them from the brisk March breeze, she sat them in their buggy. The twins were old enough now to understand where they were going and, when they reached the village shop, the grinned happily at Lorraine, who was behind the counter.

"Hello, Rose! And the twins too! You two are getting big, aren't you?" Lorraine exclaimed upon seeing them.

"Hi, Lorraine," Rose greeted her, smiling.

The smile didn't last long, however, as the twins seemed intent on grabbing everything within reach of the buggy. After she'd had to put the seventh item back, Rose sighed.

"Sorry about this," Rose told Lorraine apologetically.

"Oh, don't worry! My daughter was just the same when she was their age," Lorraine replied with a sympathetic smile "wanted everything in sight, whether she was allowed it or not!"

"Yeah, well, doesn't help when these two have learnt to cause distractions for one another," Rose announced, rolling her eyes.

Lorraine chuckled.

"Ah, yeah. That's why I only had the one child." Lorraine replied, giggling slightly.

Rose smiled.

"Where's John today?" Lorraine asked suddenly.

Rose blinked for a few moments before realising that Lorraine meant the Doctor.

"Oh, he's gone to look at some Shetland ponies. He wants to buy one or two of them for the twins so they can learn to ride when they're older." Rose explained as she began gathering the few items she'd come to the shop for.

"Mummy!" Debenhams yelled suddenly, struggling to try and turn round in the confines of the buggy.

"Hang on, sweetheart," Rose replied as she began to scan the shelf for the bread they usually bought.

"No! Mummy!" Debenhams yelled again.

Rose sighed, and Lorraine laughed.

"She's quite the little talker now, isn't she?" Lorraine noted as she headed back round behind the counter.

"Oh, yeah, doesn't shut up," Rose replied, smiling "Gallifrey's still not talking, though."

"Give him time," Lorraine answered gently "he'll talk when he wants to."

However, before Rose could reply, there was a huge crash as Gallifrey pulled several pots of jam off the shelf.

**~StormWolf10~**

When they finally got home from that frankly embarrassing shopping trip, Rose lifted the twins out of the buggy and before wedging it up against the corner near the door. The twins were watching her curiously, and Rose carefully edged round them, the shopping bag in one hand as she undid the stair gate on the sitting room door.

"Go on then, you two. I'll be in in a minute," Rose told the twins tiredly.

The twins happily headed into the front room, and Rose quickly shut the stair gate so she could go and unpack the shopping without them wandering off. Rose hurriedly unpacked the shopping before heading back to the twins, knowing from experience that the two toddlers didn't need long to cause mayhem, and she didn't want to be tidying up more than she had to. Archie was sat outside the stair gate, seemingly eyeing it with disdain. Rose chuckled, scratching the dog's head.

"I know, Archie, the stair gates are quite restricting, aren't they?" Rose asked the dog, smiling.

Archie looked up at her with big eyes and yipped quietly in response. Archie hated the stair gates as it meant he couldn't wander in and out of the rooms like he was used to, but it at least meant that the twins couldn't chase him all the time. Rose unlocked the stair gate and stepped into the room, waiting for a while to see if Archie was going to come in. The dog, however, seemed undecided, and he looked over to the twins, who had already tipped a toy box out all over the floor and were crouched over it.

"Well come on, Archie, in or out?" Rose asked the dog, growing slightly impatient.

Both twins looked up, and Gallifrey giggled when he saw Archie. He straightened up and toddled over, Rose grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving the room. Startled slightly, Gallifrey looked up at his Mum, brow furrowed in confusion beneath his blonde fringe. Then, he pointed at the dog.

"But… Archie!" he exclaimed in confusion.

Rose blinked, looking down at her son.

"Say that again, Gallifrey," Rose prompted to her son, her own brow furrowing as she crouched down in front of her son.

"Archie." Gallifrey repeated, a strange look on his little face that suggested he really didn't know why his Mum was getting him to repeat what he was saying.

"That's right!" Rose told her son, grinning in delight.

Gallifrey broke into a wide grin, a little replica of his father's as his Mum quickly gathered him to her for a hug.

"Oh, Daddy will be so proud of you when you get home!" Rose announced, still grinning.

By now, Debenhams had wandered over to see what all the fuss was about.

"Mummy?"

"Yeah, Debenhams?" Rose asked, tearing her attention from her son.

"Hungry."

Rose sighed and finally released Gallifrey from the cuddle.

"Right, come on you two, let's see which one of us can pack the toys away fastest and then we'll have some lunch, yeah?" Rose suggested to the toddlers.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Gah! Sorry for the total lack of updates, but I've had a complete writers block with this story! I have an idea for one or two more chapters, but then I need help… The twins are coming up to their second birthday, so information about toddlers would be much appreciated! So, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**

It had been a month since Gallifrey had finally started talking, and now the Doctor and Rose often found it hard to get the twins to actually shut up. Both twins had adopted the word 'No' as their new favourite word, and used it at every advantage they got. This, of course, meant that the Doctor and Rose had the word bellowed at them several times every hour, occasionally in stereo as the twins chorused it together. But today, the Doctor really needed the twins to not use the word so often and actually listen to him, because he was determined to make this day special for Rose. It was her twenty-eighth birthday, and the Doctor made sure he was up early. He quietly made his way down to the twins' nurseries, and wasn't at all surprised to see that, when he reached his son's room, Gallifrey was already stood up in his cot.

"Good morning, son," the Doctor greeted him quietly, smiling as he headed over and lifted the toddler out of the bed.

"Daddy!" Gallifrey exclaimed, breaking into a wide grin.

"Now, you've gotta be really quiet today because we've got a surprise for Mummy," the Doctor told his son as he began to get him dressed.

Gallifrey blinked.

"No!" he yelled suddenly, clapping his hands.

The Doctor sighed, and quickly shushed the little boy, but it only made it worse. Gallifrey continued bellowing 'No!' at the top of his lungs, giggling all the while.

"What's going on?"

The Doctor spun round to see Rose stood in the doorway, bleary-eyed and still in her pyjamas.

"Rose! You're supposed to be in bed!" the Doctor told her, wide-eyed.

"I am?" Rose asked, frowning.

The Doctor sighed again.

"It's your birthday. I…I was going to wake you up with the twins and give you your presents in bed," the Doctor explained quietly "I thought it would be nice, I mean, the twins are older this year and…"

"It's alright, Doctor," Rose cut in gently, smiling "it was a nice thought, but these two are always up at the crack of dawn anyway. I've gotten used to getting up early."

The Doctor blinked, Gallifrey tugging at his hair now.

"I'll go get Debenhams up and dressed," Rose told him, still smiling as she left the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I was thinking," Rose announced later that morning "we could take the twins swimming this afternoon."

The Doctor blinked, and looked at Rose. They were in the front room, and the twins were quite happily playing on the floor.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah," Rose replied, brow furrowing slightly at the Doctor's question "I mean, we've been meaning to take them for the past week or two, and we might as well go today."

"Where were you thinking? The pool down by the next village?" the Doctor asked.

Rose nodded.

"We might as well." Rose told him "It's the nearest pool and Lorraine said it was really good. They've got a Childrens pool that's shallower and warmer than the normal pool, so we could take the kids in there."

The Doctor thought for a few moments.

"Hang on," he realised, frowning slightly "do the kids even have swimming costumes?" he asked in confusion.

Rose nodded with a grin, nodding towards a rucksack that was just visible outside the sitting room door.

"Already packed." She announced with a grin.

**~StormWolf10~**

Just over an hour and a half later, the Doctor and Rose were at the nearby swimming pool. As they'd gotten there early afternoon it wasn't that busy, although they were sure it would begin filling up soon. As suspected, the twins took to the water eagerly and although their parents had to hold them up, Gallifrey and Debenhams seemed to know exactly what to do.

"Well, they seem to be enjoying themselves," the Doctor told Rose with a grin, wincing slightly as Debenhams splashed water in his face again.

Rose laughed.

"Of course they are!" Rose replied, beaming "They're like you, curious about everything! They love new things!"

The Doctor tilted his head to one side.

"I suppose so," he agreed "I just hope they don't have a habit of wandering off like you!"

Rose merely rolled her eyes.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: By the looks of it, this will be the last chapter where the kids are this little. I want to cover quite a lot, right up to they're at least sixteen or so, so the next chapter will probably be set when they're about 3/4. Is that ok? Also, dodgy chapter ending is dodgy.. o_O**

Gallifrey blinked, watching his Daddy carefully as he set a bright blue potty in front of him.

"This, Gallifrey, is your new potty." The Doctor told the boy, sitting beside him on the floor "This is where you have to learn to go to the toilet."

Gallifrey merely blinked and looked up at his Dad. His face then split into a grin as he saw Archie on the other side of the stair gate.

"Archie!" the boy exclaimed, getting to his feet and toddling over to the dog.

The Doctor sighed, quickly getting to his feet to follow the boy.

"Just leave him for now, Doctor." Rose piped up in amusement.

She was sat on the floor playing with Debenhams. The twins were now twenty-three months, and they were beginning to potty train them. Both children had been allowed to pick out their own potties but had yet to use them.

"Well, when is he going to learn?" the Doctor asked pointedly.

"Doctor, we've gotta set up a routine with them. Every evening or so, about an hour before their bedtime we'll take their clothes off them and encourage them to sit on their potties when they need the toilet. That way, they'll begin to learn when they need to go to the toilet and they'll get used to using the potties." Rose explained calmly.

"Will that work?" the Doctor asked as he let Archie into the room.

Rose shrugged.

"That's what Mum did for Tony when she was potty training him. I had to endure weeks of coming home from work to find Tony peeing all over the house." Rose replied.

The Doctor grinned.

"Well then," he announced "how about we start tonight?"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Mummy! Mummy!"

"What's the matter, Debenhams?" Rose asked, looking up from where she was building a tower of blocks with Gallifrey.

"Wee." The girl replied.

Quickly, Rose grabbed Debenhams' purple potty and sat the girl on top of it. Debenhams looked rather confused, and tried to get back up again.

"No," Rose told the girl gently "go to the toilet in the potty."

Still confused, Debenhams remained seated on the potty but didn't actually go to the toilet. Rose was so preoccupied with Debenhams that she didn't notice what Gallifrey was doing until the Doctor came back in.

"All the animals are away for the night." The Doctor announced as he sat down beside Gallifrey.

He then blinked, staring at the boy, who merely stared back and wriggled slightly on the floor.

"You act as if you've never seen your kids naked before." Rose laughed, still trying to encourage Debenhams to use her potty.

"It's not that," the Doctor replied calmly "have you got a towel?"

"Why would we need-" Rose trailed off, looking round to see Gallifrey sat in a small puddle. She immediately knew what had happened.

"Wet." Gallifrey told his parents suddenly, pulling a face.

The Doctor laughed, ruffling the boy's blonde hair as he wriggled again.

"I'm sure it is, buddy." The Doctor told his son, getting to his feet again "I'll go get a towel."

"Next time, sweetheart, try using the potty, ok?" Rose told the little boy, picking him up and seating him on the potty, although she knew it was pointless now.

The Doctor returned a few minutes later with a towel, and mopped up the mess.

**~StormWolf10~**

Over the next few days, the Doctor and Rose found themselves mopping up a lot of accidents as the twins began getting used to their potties. Lorraine had suggested sitting them on their potties and distracting them with an activity so that they'd stay seated. It seemed to work for Gallifrey, but Debenhams was easily distracted, particularly when Archie happened to wander past. The result was a lot of puddles around the house, and the Doctor and Rose had ended up virtually quarantining the twins to the front room while it was the twins' 'naked time'. Both children, however, seemed to be taking to it well, to the Doctor and Rose's relief, but had quickly discovered they needed to empty the potties quickly unless they wanted its contents all over the floor, or- on one occasion- the twins. By now, the twins were getting much more excited about the farm animals too, and were eager to accompany their parents outside to feed the animals. The Doctor had grinned at this new revelation, claiming that the kids could start helping out on the farm, although Rose wasn't too sure. The twins had the Doctor's curiosity and her stubbornness, and she really wasn't sure the farm would survive when they finally unleashed the twins…


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: New chapter! The twins are actually two and a half here, as I figured they could start helping out, but there is a time jump coming soon… Also, edited the end of last chapter, so I hope it's better!**

"Debenhams! Debenhams, come back here!" the Doctor yelled as he hurried through the seven-bar gate and into the field where the sheep were grazing.

"No!" a defiant little voice yelled back.

The one-worded reply was followed by giggles, and the Doctor sighed, hurrying after the little girl. As he trudged through the snow, the Doctor caught sight of a little pink bobble hat from behind the sheep, and set off determinedly towards it.

"Come on Debenhams," he told the girl calmly as he neared her "it getting cold and it's almost your bedtime."

"No!" the girl repeated, a lot more forcefully this time, and the Doctor could tell that the girl was no longer amused by their somewhat impromptu game of hide and seek in the snowy field.

It was getting dark, the wind cold and biting, and the Doctor was at a loss of what to do when, stubbornly, Debenhams sat down on her bum in the middle of the snow. He knew he couldn't leave her there, and he had no intentions to, but he also didn't want to make bedtime any more difficult than it already was going to be.

"Debenhams," he began carefully, getting onto his knees in the snow in front of the girl "how am I gonna round up the sheep if you're sat here, huh? You might get rounded up with them!"

The little girl merely glared at her father, glowering from beneath her pink bobble hat. Her arms were folded across her chest, but the Doctor could see she was beginning to give in to sleep.

"So come on, why don't we go inside and get all nice and toasty, yeah?"

Debenhams looked at her father for a few moments as the Doctor waited for her answer with baited breath. And then she answered him.

"No!"

The Doctor groaned, beginning to regret ever letting the toddler accompany him outside to round up the sheep.

"But we had a _deal_!" he protested, although he knew it was pointless telling this to a toddler.

"No!" Debenhams repeated loudly.

The Doctor could tell now that his daughter was getting tired, and a tantrum was imminent. He and Rose were quite used to the word 'No' now, and it was one of only few in the twins' vocabulary. It also seemed to be their favourite word, and they were every bit as stubborn as their parents. Now cold and irritated, the Doctor looked around the field, contemplating what to do.

"You know Gallifrey's probably being very good for Mummy." The Doctor told Debenhams conversationally "I doubt he's playing up."

He knew it was a low blow, bringing Gallifrey into it, but the Doctor was hoping that the sibling rivalry between the twins would prompt Debenhams to give in and try to prove she could be more well-behaved than her twin. However, Debenhams merely began sniffing, close to tears, and the Doctor quickly scooped the girl into his arms, no longer content to leave her sat in the snow. Holding her close to his body, the Doctor began rounding up the sheep as quickly as possible.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Gallifrey, please _stop_ with the tantrums!"

"No!" the little boy yelled, continuing to sob.

Rose sighed, rubbing her forehead. She was almost certain she was coming down with a migraine and Gallifrey's tantrum wasn't helping.

"Archie isn't going to bed with you, he has to stay downstairs." Rose told the boy forcefully, crouching in front of the screaming toddler and smoothing his blonde hair back from his reddening face "He has his own bed in the kitchen, sweetheart."

Gallifrey, however, continued sobbing, and Rose sighed again as she urged the little boy to understand.

"Now come on, sweetheart, you're getting yourself all worked up. I know you're tired, so why don't we go and get you ready for bed, yeah?"

"No!" the boy repeated, still crying.

Just then, the back door opened and the Doctor came in, carrying a squirming Debenhams.

"You would not _believe_ the bother I've been having with this one-" the Doctor began as he shut the back door, only to trail off when he saw that Gallifrey was having his own tantrum.

Rose merely looked at her partner tiredly, watching as Debenhams continued squirming and yelling in her father's arms. The Doctor's and Rose's eyes then met.

"Bedtime?" the Doctor asked weakly.

"Bedtime." Rose agreed tiredly.

The Doctor tugged Debenhams' welly boots off of her, as well as taking off her hat, scarf and coat before lifting the girl back into his arms. Rose, meanwhile, lifted her son into her arms, sitting him on her hip as she made her way out to the stairs. The Doctor followed, pausing only to hang up Debenhams' outdoor things, and reluctantly sat the girl on the stairs while he took off his coat and welly boots. He then followed Rose upstairs, taking Debenhams to her room. The girl continued yelling as the Doctor dressed her in her pyjamas, tucked her into her bed and kissed her on the forehead. He then switched on her nightlight and left the room. Just as he shut the door, Rose came out of Gallifrey's room.

"Did he go down alright?" the Doctor asked, although he could still hear Gallifrey screaming and crying through the wall.

Rose shook her head, sighing.

"Still crying." Rose replied, beginning to head back downstairs.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor lifted Gallifrey into his arms, ignoring as the boy screamed, sobbed and squirmed. Quickly and quietly, the Doctor returned the boy to his bed, tucking him in before leaving the room quickly. With a sigh, he sank down to sit with his back to the wall. Rose was sat beside him, eyes closed and head back against the wall. It was almost eleven, and the twins still weren't asleep; they kept getting out of bed, crying and asking for hugs, bedtime stories and drinks. Every time, the Doctor or Rose would just pick the child up and take them back to bed, not speaking to them in the hope that the twins would soon settle down and go to sleep.

"We're not going to bed anytime soon, are we?" Rose asked quietly, sighing.

"Nope." The Doctor replied, also sighing "We might as well get comfy here."


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: New chapter :) The twins are just over three here. Remember to read and review!**

"Mummy?" a little voice whispered quietly.

The voice was quickly shushed.

Louder this time; "Mummy?"

Again, the voice was shushed.

Even louder: "Mummy?"

"What, Gallifrey?" Rose asked quietly, looking down at the small blonde-haired boy sat beside her.

The little boy wriggled on the uncomfortable wooden pew, swinging his converse-clad feet as he looked up at his Mum with wide brown eyes.

"Why are we here?"

"Because this is a village meeting, and Daddy and I are part of the village community." Rose replied calmly, attempting to return her attention to the vicar at the front of the church.

"Oh." The little boy answered, continuing to swing his feet.

There was a brief pause as Gallifrey settled down again, and then:

"Mummy? This is boring."

Rose sighed, cheeks flushing red as several people in the pews in front of them turned around to glare at Gallifrey for speaking so loudly.

"Sorry." Rose mouthed to them apologetically, already moving to sit the boy on her lap in the hope it would keep him quiet for a bit.

The village meeting was to talk about the refurbishment of the village hall. It had recently been decided that it needed doing up, and it was up to the village to decide how and when. However, as the meeting was being attended by the whole village, it meant that many of the parents had had to bring their children with them. Many of the children were quite happily reading, colouring and drawing as they sat beside their parents, but Gallifrey and Debenhams were far too curious to sit down for so long. Gallifrey had already tired of drawing almost ten minutes before and, when Rose glanced past the Doctor- who was now beside her due to her moving Gallifrey- to where Debenhams was sat, she could tell that the little girl was also close to getting bored with the colouring. The twins had turned three only a few weeks ago, and had recently started attending the village nursery for three mornings a week, and the Doctor and Rose had already had several comments about how their children were very curious and energetic.

"Now, we are also looking for volunteers to help paint the inside of the village hall once it's been refurbished," the vicar announced with a kindly smile, surveying the frankly bored-looking congregation "but of course, you won't be needed for a few more weeks yet. We would like as much help as possible so that we can get the village hall up and functioning quickly, so if you are interested in volunteering, please let Lorraine Nicolson know."

Lorraine waved so everyone could see where she was sat, but at a glance, Rose guessed they wouldn't be getting many volunteers. The Doctor suddenly leant over to whisper to her.

"D'you think we could persuade them to let the twins just finger paint the walls?" the Doctor asked quietly, grinning.

Rose grinned back, shaking her head.

"Not unless they want a multicoloured room," Rose responded as Gallifrey giggled from her lap.

"Daddy?" Debenhams piped up suddenly, tugging on the sleeve of the Doctor's shirt "I haveta go."

"You have to go?" the Doctor repeated quietly, frowning slightly.

Debenhams nodded, biting her lip and tugging at the hem of her jumper. The Doctor's eyes widened as he suddenly realised Debenhams needed the toilet.

"I'll be back in a minute." He told Rose quietly, sweeping the three year old girl into his arms and heading for the toilet.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Well, that was a waste of time," Rose muttered as they headed back to the farm.

They were far enough away from the village church now to not be overheard by the locals. They were already on the edge of the village, and the only other person who lived near them was Jensen, who hadn't attended the meeting.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," the Doctor defended, hands in his pockets as they made their way down the narrow country road.

"The biggest debate we had was whether to paint the village hall in natural hessian or natural wicker. They're both brown!" Rose pointed out in annoyance.

The Doctor chuckled, glancing up the road to see the twins happily trotting along a few feet in front of them.

"Don't wander too far, you two." He called after the twins, causing them to turn around in confusion.

They then both grinned and continued back towards the farm, giggling as they put more and more distance between themselves and their parents. With a sigh, the Doctor and Rose hurried after them.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Be careful, ok? We don't want to break any of the eggs." The Doctor told the twins gently.

He watched carefully, knelt on the grass as the twins collected the eggs the chickens had laid the day before. The twins were still small enough that they could only carry one egg at a time, partially because they had taken to holding the egg in both hands so it wouldn't break. This, of course, meant that it took quite a while for them to gather all the eggs, but the children enjoyed it and liked helping out.

"Daddy," Debenhams announced, standing in front of the Doctor with an egg cupped in her hands.

The Doctor grinned and took the egg, watching as Debenhams then hurried back to the chicken coop. The Doctor silently placed the egg in the basket beside him just as Gallifrey came over, clutching an egg. This went on for several minutes.

"How are you doing?"

The Doctor looked up as Rose sat beside him on the grass.

"Fine," the Doctor replied with a grin "it's taking a lot longer than when we do it, though."

Rose grinned, watching as Debenhams came back over with another egg.

"I'm glad you bought this farm without asking me." Rose announced suddenly, watching her daughter run back over to the coop.

The Doctor looked over at his partner, frowning slightly.

"I mean, I don't think I'd have agreed to it if we'd talked about it…Well, maybe I would've, but we'd have ended up in a little house in the village, not in an _actual_ farm."Rose continued, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder suddenly "But seeing the twins being so involved with the animals… I don't know, I just can't imagine bringing them up anywhere else."

The Doctor grinned.

"I did alright, then?" he asked with a grin.

Rose pretended to think for a few moments before shrugging.

"Not bad." She answered with a grin.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but just then, the twins came barrelling back over, colliding with their parents.

"No more eggs?" the Doctor asked, noting their empty hands.

Gallifrey pouted and shook his head.

"No more eggs, Daddy." He replied glumly.

Rose laughed, smoothing her son's blonde hair back from his forehead.

"Well then, we'll just have to wait for tomorrow then, won't we?" Rose asked the boy.

The twins brightened immediately, nodding eagerly. Yep, Rose decided, she really couldn't imagine raising her family anywhere else.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Wait, what is this? A Christmas chapter? When it's almost Easter? Why, yes! And it's fluffy, fluffy goodness!**

"_Angels, sing again the song you sang,  
bring God's glory to the heart of man;  
Sing the Bethl'hem's little baby can  
be salvation to the soul."_

Debenhams looked up at her Mum briefly before gazing round the church again. It was Christmas Eve, and that meant the village Christmas carol service. Both twins were growing bored, and were eager to perform their nativity, but it didn't seem to look like they'd be performing it soon. Gallifrey was swinging his legs beneath his dressing gown that served as his Shepherd's costume, chattering quietly to seven year old Tony, who was desperately trying to sing along with the adults rather than be distracted by his three year old nephew. With a slight huff, Debenhams returned her attention to her Mum.

"Mummy," she whispered, tugging on the sleeve of her Mum's jumper.

Rose glanced down at the little girl, before continuing to sing the Christmas carol. With another huff, Debenhams tugged the sleeve of her Mum's jumper again, this time more insistently. Rose glanced down at her daughter again, continuing to sing.

"_Oh, now carry me to Bethlehem  
to see the Lord appear to men;  
Just as poor as was the stable then,  
The prince of glory when he came."_

The carol ended, and the vicar gestured for the congregation to sit down again.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked her daughter as they sat down.

"When's our play?" Debenhams asked quietly.

"We've got a bible reading, then another carol and then it's you, ok?" Rose replied after consulting the programme.

Debenhams looked a little put-out, but nodded, watching as Mr Peters- who lived in the village and ran the Bakery- stepped up to begin reading the bible reading.

**~StormWolf10~**

"And now we have Foxton nursery's Nativity!"

As the vicar stepped back and the congregation began clapping, Rose led Debenhams and Gallifrey up to the slightly raised platform. Jackie and Pete seemed to be clapping extra loud, and the Doctor already had the video camera out to film the kids. Debenhams happily skipped over to the rest of the angels, but Gallifrey was surprisingly more reluctant to let go of Rose's hand. He'd been a little under the weather with a cold, and had somewhat attached himself to Rose during that time. Rose looked around and saw that a few other parents had stayed with their children on the little raised platform, so instead of trying to pull away and making Gallifrey cry, Rose knelt beside her son. A nursery worker switched on a microphone and began reading out the Nativity.

"About two thousand years ago, in the town of Nazareth, there lived a young woman named Mary. She was engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter. One day an angel appeared before her and told her she had been chosen to have a special baby. The baby would be God's son and she must call him Jesus."

Rose stifled a giggle as the troop of angels marched across the stage as one to stand near the little girl who was playing Mary, sat in front of the makeshift crib.

"Soon after the angel's visit, Mary and Joseph were married. Mary was due to have her baby when they were told they had to go on a long journey to Bethlehem, which was where Joseph came from. This was because they had to pay a special tax. Mary had to ride on a donkey for a few days over the hills of Galilee."

One of the nursery workers knelt in front of the children, nodding over to the man at the piano to begin playing before she encouraged the bunch of children to begin singing 'Little Donkey'. Gallifrey needed a little prompting from his Mum, but by the end of the song, he was singing as loudly as the rest of the kids, and seemed to be enjoying himself more. A quick glance over at her daughter assured Rose that Debenhams was also enjoying herself.

"At last Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. It was crowded with other people who needed to pay their taxes. Mary was very tired and needed a place to stay. At each inn, the story was the same. There was no room for them. Eventually, one kind innkeeper said he had a stable where he kept his animals. They were welcome to stay there."

The little boy dressed as the innkeeper- complete with face paint beard, Rose noted- clomped across the stage to Mary and Joseph, earning the boy some chuckles from the audience which confused him.

"And so it was that a few hours later, Mary gave birth to her son in that stable. She wrapped Jesus in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger full of hay."

Again, the piano started up again, and the children began singing 'Away in a Manger'. Rose was struggling to keep a straight face as Gallifrey- obviously enjoying himself now- belted out the words to the song. At some point, the short song became a competition for the little children to see who could yell the lyrics the loudest, much to the amusement of the audience.

"At the same time, on a hillside overlooking Bethlehem, some shepherds were watching over their sheep. A bright light appeared in the sky. They were very afraid. It was an angel sent by God. The angel told them not to be afraid, because he had some good news. He said the Son of God had been born and they would find Him in Bethlehem. They set off to the stable, and when they arrived, they were overjoyed. They told Mary and Joseph of how an angel had appeared in the sky and told them of His birth."

Gallifrey had evidently been too busy waving at his Dad, as he completely missed his cue and Rose found herself tugging the boy across the small platform by his arm while the handful of pint-sized Shepherds trooped across the stage to Mary and Joseph. All the while, Gallifrey was beaming at his Dad, waving eagerly.

"Daddy!" Gallifrey yelled suddenly, still beaming and yelling.

The audience laughed, as did Rose, who had finally given up trying to keep a straight face. She quickly knelt down again and tugged her son onto her lap, only to be attacked by a tinsel-wearing, brown-haired blur. Rose soon identified the blur to be Debenhams, who had broken away from the small gathering of angels to join her brother and the shepherds on the other side of the manger. Soon, both twins were eagerly beaming and waving at the Dad and grandparents, and Rose quickly tried to settle them again. None of the audience looked at all bothered by the twins' loudness, evidently used to the fact that a nativity full of three year olds wouldn't run smoothly.

"Now come on you two, settle down now." Rose told the twins quietly as she held them to her in case they tried to flee the stage.

Of course, they weren't the only children more interested in waving at their families than doing the Nativity, but they were most likely the loudest. Soon, however, the group of children were settled enough that the Nativity could continue.

"Far away in the East, Wise Men saw a new star shining high in the sky. These men studied the stars and they knew this was a very special star. They studied their scrolls where it said that whenever a bright new star appeared it meant that a great ruler had been born. They decided to find the new ruler, and went to King Herod, but he said he knew nothing of this new ruler. He told the three Wise Men to tell him when they found the new ruler so that he could go and worship Him himself. The Wise Men followed the star and soon found Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem. They brought Him gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh."

The three Wise Men shuffled over to the manger, placing their 'gifts' on the floor before moving to stand beside the angels.

"The Wise Men went back to their own country without calling to see Herod. Soon after Joseph had a dream where an angel told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt as King Herod had ordered that Jesus be killed. They left Bethlehem right away. When the wise men did not return, Herod ordered that baby boys in Bethlehem be killed. They did not find Jesus as he was safe."

The children finished the Nativity by singing 'We Three Kings' before exiting the platform to applause from the rest of the village. Rose helped the twins off the step and they quickly ran back to their seats, Debenhams clambering onto Pete's lap while Gallifrey reclaimed his seat beside Tony.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Our final carol of the night is 'Once in Royal David's City'," the vicar announced to the congregation "if you could all rise..?"

There were a few moans and grumbles as everyone got to their feet and the piano began playing. By now, Pete was holding Debenhams, who had her head resting on his shoulder as she struggled to keep her eyes open, and Gallifrey was sat on Rose's hip with his face buried in her neck. It was nearing seven o'clock, almost an hour past the twins' bedtime, and the Doctor and Rose were both silently hoping that that meant the twins would go to bed without much of a fuss. Just as they were beginning the second verse of the song, the Doctor leant over to whisper in Rose's ear.

"You'll be pleased to hear that the twins' Nativity was all caught on camera."

Rose grinned up at her partner, still singing. They quickly returned their attention to the song sheet as they realised they didn't know the words.

"_With the poor, and mean, and lowly,  
Lived on earth our Saviour holy._

For He is our childhood's pattern;  
Day by day, like us, He grew;  
He was little, weak, and helpless,  
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;  
And He cares when we are sad,  
And he shares when we are glad."

Gallifrey shifted sleepily against Rose, and she readjusted her hold on him, causing the Doctor to look over at her.

"Is he asleep?" she asked quietly, not being able to see for herself due to how Gallifrey had buried his face in her neck.

The Doctor nodded, snaking an arm round Rose's waist to tug her closer as the final verse of the song begun.__

"_And our eyes at last shall see Him,  
Through His own redeeming love;  
For that Child so dear and gentle,  
Is our Lord in heaven above:  
And He leads His children on,  
To the place where He is gone._"

**~StormWolf10~**

After a prayer and a final word of thanks from the vicar, the carol service was over, and the Doctor and Rose began bundling the twins into their coats. Tony was already back in his coat, scarf and hat, and was waiting impatiently for the rest of his family to get ready. Once in their coats, the twins were beginning to drift off again, and Jackie eagerly took Gallifrey from Rose while Pete was more than happy to carry his granddaughter. As they made their way back to Noble farm, Tony eagerly chatted with his big sister, telling her everything he'd asked Santa for for Christmas.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: I'm back! I have an idea or two for the next two-three chapters, and I'm hoping to get back to the farming soon… So, if there **_**are **_**any farmers reading this… HELP! PM me, or review with tips about any farming-related stuff. Even if it's not been done in the story so far, I'm open to any ideas and want to incorporate more farming stuff into the story. IT WASN'T MEANT TO GO THIS FAR! IT WAS A FUNNY ONESHOT!**

Gallifrey watched in interest as his Dad finished setting up the white picket fence.

"Daddy?" Gallifrey piped up questioningly.

The Doctor looked round and smiled at the three and a half year old.

"Almost ready," the Doctor assured the little boy with a grin "why don't you go find Mummy and Debenhams? I think Mummy has a job for you."

Still confused, the little boy headed back inside the house, finding his Mum in the kitchen.

"Ah, hello, Gallifrey!" Rose greeted her son, lifting him into her arms as Debenhams gripped at her jeans "How do you feel about coming to the garden centre with me and your sister, yeah? You can help me choose some flowers to plant in the garden."

"Can Archie come?" Debenhams piped up suddenly, with a toothy smile.

"How about we leave Archie here to keep Daddy company?" Rose suggested to the children.

They looked a little put out, but nodded.

"Come on then, missy," Rose announced to Debenhams as she lowered Gallifrey back to the floor "go find your shoes."

Debenhams hurried off to retrieve her shoes, and Gallifrey waited impatiently by the door.

"Is that why Daddy's putting a fence up?" Gallifrey asked his Mum, brow furrowed.

"Yep. We're gonna plant the flowers inside the fence so the chickens don't get in and dig them all up." Rose explained to the little boy as she shrugged on her own coat.

Gallifrey still looked a little unsure, and Rose grinned at him, smoothing his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes. Soon, Debenhams returned, her purple wellies in her hand, and Rose helped her slip them on before leading them outside.

"We're gonna head out, we'll only be gone an hour or so." Rose told the Doctor as she led the children past to the car.

"Yep. Have fun," the Doctor replied, waving at the twins before returning to finishing fixing the white wooden gate.

The twins were still waving at the Doctor as Rose bundled them into their car seats and began pulling out of the farm.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I want blue!"

"Purple!"

"Blue!"

"Purple!"

Rose sighed, a hand going to her forehead. The twins' argument over which flowers to get was earning Rose some disapproving looks from other people at the garden centre. She'd already heard several muttered "Honestly, can't people control their children?"s and "You'd think she'd do something other than just _stand there_!"s.

"Ok, you two," Rose told the twins, crouching in front of them "stop arguing now. We can get both flowers, ok?"

However, both twins merely pouted, and Rose sighed.

"But I don't want blue ones!" Debenhams complained, eyes wide.

"_I_ don't want purple ones!" Gallifrey retorted, glaring at his sister.

"Now listen you two," Rose told the two twins sternly, encouraging the children to look at her "you're both going to have your own sections of garden to plant your flowers in, so it doesn't matter whether or not you like each other's flowers, ok?"

Both twins nodded slightly, but still looked more than a little annoyed at one another. Rose straightened up and smiled gently at the twins.

"Now go on, you two, pick some flowers," Rose encouraged gently.

Both twins moved to grab their chosen flowers, although Rose didn't miss the few glares the twins exchanged before they handed the plants to her to put in the trolley.

"Shall we go and see if there's some more you'd like?" Rose asked the twins as they returned to her side and gripped the trolley as Rose began walking again.

The twins nodded eagerly, perking up quickly despite the argument they'd just had. Rose shook her head slightly, smiling as the twins suddenly ran off ahead of her, examining the rows upon rows of flowers. As the twins grew, they became more and more curious with each passing day, and they seemed fascinated with all the plants on display at the garden centre. Rose followed them through the garden centre, stopping every now and then so that the twins could hand her plants to put in the trolley.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Ah, you're back then," the Doctor noted with a smile as the twins barrelled into him.

"Yeah, don't suppose you could give me a hand with these plants?" Rose asked as she began lifting the various plants out of the boot.

The Doctor hurried over, and soon all the plants were unloaded and in the middle of the little fenced off area the Doctor had been working on.

"Well, looks like you two picked a lot of plants." The Doctor told the twins with a chuckle as he surveyed the pile of plants.

"Uh huh!" Gallifrey agreed with a grin "But my flowers are better than Debenhams'!"

"Are not!" Debenhams responded quickly, glaring at her brother.

Rose sighed as the twins began arguing again, and the Doctor quickly grabbed two small spades they'd bought so the twins could help with the planting.

"Hey, hey, come on you two, else we won't be able to plant all these flowers before your bedtime." The Doctor told them, handing them a spade each.

Both twins took the spades eagerly, and Rose began sorting out the plants into two sections; Gallifrey's and Debenhams'.

**~StormWolf10~**

Barely an hour later, Rose couldn't help but laugh when Gallifrey grinned toothily at her. His pale face was smudged with streaks of dirt and earth, some of it even finding its way into his dirty blonde, slightly-too-long hair (although Rose and the Doctor had agreed that the slightly long hair suited the little boy, and upon asking Gallifrey if he'd like a haircut, the boy had shook his head petulantly). It was February, so the twins were bundled in their coats and wellies, and Rose wasn't too fussed about how dirty those got, as that was their purpose. The little boy's hands were covered in dirt too, and Rose knew that that was because the boy had preferred getting down and dirty and using his hands to dig holes for the flowers rather than the spade they'd given him.

"Fill the hole in, then."

Rose looked over to where the Doctor was helping Debenhams plant her flowers. The little girl was staring at her Dad with wide eyes; face equally streaked with dirt as her twin brother.

"Go on, Debenhams. Fill the hole in, or the plant will fall over," the Doctor urged the little girl for a second time.

Debenhams just grinned and handed the spade to him.

"Here, Daddy." She told him calmly.

"I can't fill the hole in!" the Doctor told the little girl with wide eyes, earning a giggle from his daughter "If I let go of the flower it'll fall over. You'll have to do it."

Debenhams instantly dropped the spade and grabbed two fistfuls of dirt, dropping it rather unceremoniously on top of the plant. The Doctor blinked.

"Ok," he murmured "guess we're using our hands now."

Rose laughed at that, causing the Doctor to look over at her and grin.

"Oh, don't worry, Gallifrey gave up on the spade ages ago." Rose told her partner with a grin. "Probably wasn't getting him dirty enough."

As if on cue, Gallifrey pushed himself to his feet, immediately moving to plop himself in Rose's lap, his muddy little hands going to the previously-clean jumper she was wearing. Rose looked down at the little boy, who grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Finished, Mummy." Gallifrey announced with a wide grin.

"They look good!" Rose told the little boy with a smile as she looked over at the- frankly slightly cockeyed- flowers he'd planted.

"I finished too!" Debenhams yelled suddenly, not wanting to be left out.

The Doctor looked round to see his daughter patting down the dirt around the flowers with a smile. Then, just like her brother, she proceeded to wipe her dirty little hands all over her parents' clothes. The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned at Rose.

"Looks like we've got another load of washing to do tonight." The Doctor sighed, lifting his daughter into his arms.

Rose merely grinned back as she stood and swung Gallifrey onto her hip.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: I actually hadn't realised that the twins are almost four in this story already… Wow! Still not entirely sure how it happened...**

Debenhams leant across the low wooden table to grab another handful of raw rice. She happily dropped it into the cardboard tube that was on the table and peered into the tube.

"That enough?" she asked the teacher loudly.

The teacher- Mrs Ford- made her way round the table, checking on a few of the other children before reaching Debenhams.

"Well, put the lid on and we'll give it a shake, see what kind of noise it makes, yeah?" Mrs Ford suggested to the little girl.

Debenhams nodded eagerly, reaching for the plastic lid that came with the tube. It was one of the three mornings a week the twins were at nursery, and they only had a few months before they started school. That didn't seem to bother them, though, and would happily get stuck in with all of the activities the teachers came up with. As Mrs Ford helped Debenhams push the plastic lid onto the tube and shake it, Debenhams scrunched her face up in concentration.

"What do you think, Debenhams?" Mrs Ford asked the girl with an encouraging smile "Do you think your rain stick needs more rice in it?"

Debenhams thought hard for a few moments, face scrunched up in concentration as she bit her lip- a little thing she'd picked up from her Mum, Mrs Ford guessed. Finally, Debenhams shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Mrs Ford asked.

Debenhams nodded forcefully, her little brown bunches bobbing as she did so.

"Ok, let me just stick the lid on with some tape and then you can go over and see Miss Price. She'll help you decorate it, ok?"

Debenhams nodded and waited patiently while the teacher stuck brown parcel tape over the lid of the tube so the rice wouldn't fall out. She then happily took her makeshift rain stick from the teacher and hurried off to the opposite side of the room where some of the other children were already decorating their sticks. Debenhams quickly found a spot beside her brother Gallifrey, who almost immediately passed her a brown pen. Miss Price blinked as the twins continued with their drawings quietly. She'd expected the little girl to scowl at her brother, to announce that she wanted a pink pen and not a brown one, but Debenhams hadn't uttered a word, she had just taken- and begun using- the pen.

"Would you like some help, Debenhams?" Miss Price asked the girl, moving round to crouch beside her.

Debenhams shook her head, concentrating on her wobbly drawing.

"No thank you." She replied calmly.

Miss Price watched as Debenhams continued with her wobbly drawing before putting the pen back on the table before reaching for a grey pen.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Doctor, are you sure about this?" Rose asked her partner sceptically.

"Well, I've been right about everything else on the farm so far!" the Doctor replied, pausing in his scrubbing to look up at Rose.

He looked frankly ridiculously in a pair of yellow rubber gloves, his t-shirt slightly damp from the water he was using to scrub out the incubator.

"Besides," the Doctor continued with a grin as he continued to scrub "the twins will love it!"

"Yeah, until they ask us how the chicks got in the eggs." Rose pointed out, arms folded.

The Doctor froze for a moment, and blinked.

"We-ell," he began slightly "they might not ask us that."

"They're our kids, Doctor," Rose sighed "they have both our curiosities combined; of course they're going to ask us that!"

The Doctor didn't reply, and instead began scrubbing the incubator even harder. Rose sank into a chair, still slightly put-out that the Doctor had decided the incubator for the chicken eggs they had yet to pick up from Jensen needed to go in their kitchen diner, right near the dining table.

"If you really wanted chicks, why didn't you just get a rooster and breed them yourself?" Rose asked quietly, confused.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Didn't fancy getting a rooster, didn't want the kids walking in on a chicken and a rooster… _you_ _know_."

He wrinkled his nose, and Rose laughed.

"And how are you gonna explain to the twins that the eggs won't hatch for, what, twenty days?" Rose asked curiously.

"Twenty-one." The Doctor corrected "But ours won't need to be in for that long; the eggs Jensen's dropping round tomorrow have already been in an incubator for fourteen days. And I'm hoping that the twins will be fascinated enough with them that they won't mind waiting another week."

"And he only wants £40 for the ten eggs?" Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"Seemed reasonable enough to me, and I thought the twins would like helping out with the chicks. They're still a little young to be given their own chores out on the farm, and Arthur can be a bit hit and miss with them- did I tell you he almost kicked Gallifrey the other day?- so, anyway, we could use the chicks to introduce the twins to helping out more on the farm."

The Doctor was rambling, but Rose couldn't help but grin.

"I love how excited you get when we get new animals." Rose told him quietly with a wide grin.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned.

"And how excited you get about the twins helping out." Rose continued.

"Well, they're getting older." The Doctor pointed out with a soft smile "They're four in three months." The Doctor then sat back on his haunches, eyes going wide.

He turned to look at Rose, who was equally as quiet and shocked.

"Our babies aren't babies anymore, are they?" Rose asked quietly with a weak smile.

"I guess they're not." The Doctor admitted quietly, pushing himself to his feet and pulling off the rubber gloves before moving to pull Rose in for a hug "They start school in a few months, and I reckon they're almost old enough to begin helping permanently on the farm."

"Just can't believe they're almost four _already_." Rose chuckled quietly.

The Doctor grinned and kissed Rose on the forehead as they stood in silence for a minute or so. The silence was then broken by the Doctor.

"Marry me."

Rose blinked, pulling back slightly to look up at him. The last time the Doctor had proposed, it had been literally a minute or so after they'd found out Rose was pregnant.

"Sorry?" Rose asked, brow furrowing slightly.

"Marry me?" the Doctor repeated uncertainly.

"Doctor…" Rose began, looking up at him.

"No, listen to me, Rose." the Doctor cut in "The twins are almost four. That's four years of our lives. Five years since we've been here, in this world, together. We have a wonderful home, two wonderful children… And I want to be able to introduce you as 'my wonderful wife'. You said before, before the twins were born, before we knew we were even _having_ twins, that we couldn't afford to get married, that we didn't have enough time. Well, now we have the time _and_ the money. And it'll be even better, because the twins can be involved. So, will you marry me?"

Again, Rose just blinked, speechless. She opened her mouth to reply, but then the clock on the wall caught her eye and she cursed.

"I have to go pick up the twins from nursery," she told the Doctor, already running from the room "but I promise we'll finish talking about this later!"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Mummy!" Gallifrey and Debenhams yelled in unison, matching grins on their faces as they ran towards Rose.

"Hello, you two!" Rose exclaimed, crouching down as the twins barrelled into her "What've you got here?" she asked as she narrowly avoided being hit in the face by a cardboard tube Gallifrey was holding.

"Rain sticks!" Debenhams announced happily.

"They look cool!" Rose told the twins as she got to her feet again just as Miss Price came over with the twins' coats.

"Hello, Rose," Miss Price greeted her with a smile "looks like the twins were so eager to show you their rain sticks they forget their coats!"

"Thanks, Louise." Rose smiled at the woman, taking the twins' coats from the woman and helping them slip them on. "Come on then, you two, Daddy's got a surprise for you at home."

Almost as soon as the words were out of Rose's mouth, she found two little children shoving rain sticks at her before running out the nursery.

**~StormWolf10~**

"So the chicks will live in here?" Gallifrey asked his Dad, wide-eyed.

"Yep," the Doctor told his son with a grin "They'll be all nice and warm in here until they're ready to hatch out of their eggs. Then, we'll move them into a box called a brooder, where we'll keep them for a while longer. You'll need to help me make sure they have plenty of food and water, ok?"

Both twins nodded eagerly, matching grins on their faces, and Rose watched the whole exchange with a soft smile. The twins had been back from nursery no more than ten minutes and, just as the Doctor had predicted, they were fascinated with the prospect of them having chicks on the farm.

"Now," the Doctor continued, helping the twins off the chairs they'd been stood on to see the incubator "how about we go into the front room and you can tell me and Mummy what you did at nursery today."

Leaving the twins no time to argue, the Doctor steered them into the front room. Archie, who had been dozing on the sofa, looked up as the twins entered, and was weaving around them within minutes, begging for attention. Immediately, the twins crossed to the sofa where Rose had put their rain sticks, grabbing them and bringing them over to their parents as they sat on the floor.

"These look fun," the Doctor told Debenhams as she thrust her rain stick at him. He shook it experimentally "did you put rice in them?"

The twins nodded.

"Yeah, but mine's better." Gallifrey piped up as he sat himself on Rose's lap.

Debenhams quickly retaliated by poking her tongue out at her brother, who stuck his tongue out back at her. The Doctor and Rose caught each other's eyes over the twins' heads and rolled their eyes.

"Stop it, you two, or we'll have to put you in timeout." Rose told the twins sternly.

Both twins scowled, and the Doctor quickly continued talking to Debenhams to halt any more arguments that had been threatening to arise.

"And you decorated it too! That's good!" he told Debenhams, who smiled back proudly.

"Uh huh! I drew a chicken an' sheep an' Archie." Debenhams told her Dad with a grin, pointing at the brown blob she'd scribbled first, followed by a collection of grey fluffy circles (that the Doctor thought looked more like clouds than sheep, but he kept his mouth shut) and finally a black and grey oblong shape with a circle and triangles (presumably Archie's head) and a scribbled line for a tail.

"Wow!" the Doctor told his daughter, grinning as he tugged her in for a hug, kissing her on the forehead. "What did you draw, Gallifrey?"

"I drew chickens, like Debenhams. She copied me." The boy replied, playing with Rose's fingers as he spoke.

"Didn't copy!" Debenhams muttered.

Rose and the Doctor sighed.

**~StormWolf10~**

"The kids are both tucked up in bed, fast asleep." Rose told the Doctor with a sigh as she settled herself on the sofa between his legs "Debenhams hadn't even woken up."

"Why was Gallifrey crying then?" the Doctor asked worriedly.

"Nightmare." Rose replied, watching the TV "But he's fine now, went straight back to sleep once I showed him that there were no monsters under the bed that were gonna eat him."

"No clockwork men lurking under there, then?" the Doctor asked with a smirk.

"Nope," Rose confirmed with a smile, twisting round slightly so she could see the Doctor's face "and no 51st century spaceship behind any hidden 'magic doors', either."

The pair chuckled, descending into a comfortable silence as they watched TV. Rose fiddled idly with the material of the Doctor's t-shirt.

"I've been thinking," Rose piped up quietly, suddenly "about what you said earlier."

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked, holding his breath as he looked down at her.

"Yeah." Rose replied, looking up at him with a soft smile "And the answer's yes."

The Doctor grinned widely, quickly tugging Rose further up to kiss her soundly on the lips. Rose's hands went to his hair, tangling in it. And then, the sound of crying perforated the air. The couple broke apart with a sigh, casting their eyes up to the ceiling.

"I checked on him last time." Rose told her partner tiredly, flopping back against the sofa "Your turn to calm Gallifrey down after his nightmare."

With a sigh, the Doctor extracted himself from the sofa and hurried from the room, taking the stairs two at a time.

"Hang on, son, I'm coming." The Doctor called up the stairs to the three year old.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Big shoutout to Arrows the Wolf, my 100****th**** reviewer on this story!**

The Doctor carefully lifted the eggs, one by one into the incubator. The twins were stood right behind him, watching with matching wide-eyed, inquisitive expressions.

"There are really chicks in there?" Gallifrey asked, frowning at the disappointingly small eggs.

"Yep. And in a week or so, they'll hatch out." The Doctor told his son as he finished putting the final egg in the incubator.

"Aren't they squashed?" Debenhams asked uncertainly.

Rose chuckled at that and shook her head.

"No, sweetheart, they're perfectly comfortable." Rose assured her daughter with a gentle smile.

The twins looked sceptically at their parents, before they both clambered up on chairs just as the Doctor shut the lid on the incubator.

"Come on, you two, into the front room now." The Doctor told the twins, urging them off the chairs.

Both twins immediately began complaining, turning wide-eyed to their parents.

"No, come on. There's nothing interesting to see yet." Rose told them as she took Gallifrey's hand and tugged him away from the incubator.

**~StormWolf10~**

Over the next few days, Rose and the Doctor often found the twins sat on dining room chairs, staring at the incubator. Nothing happened of course, but every time they tried to drag the twins away, they began having tantrums. So instead, the Doctor and Rose opted to leave the twins there. Rose had even managed to snap a picture of the twins to send to Jackie and Pete while they were busy watching the still-unmoving eggs.

"It'll still be another few days, sweetheart," Rose told Debenhams one day as the girl sat staring at the eggs "you understand that, yeah?"

Debenhams nodded, but didn't make any other indication that she knew the chicks wouldn't be coming that day. Instead, she remained staring at the incubator, and Rose blinked in confusion, before shaking her head and continuing to mop the kitchen floor.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Mummy! Daddy!"

Rose and the Doctor both shot into upright positions, Rose fumbling for the switch for the bedside lamp as the Doctor rolled himself out of bed, falling in an unceremonious heap on the floor, half the duvet on top of him. However, within seconds, he was on his feet again, moving for the bedroom door as Rose followed. Together they hurried down the dark corridor to the twins' bedrooms.

"You check on Gallifrey, I'll check on Debenhams, yeah?" Rose asked tiredly, one hand already on the door handle of her daughter's room.

The Doctor nodded and they opened the doors in unison, stepping inside and switching the lights on. And backing out of the rooms again slowly.

"Doctor," Rose began cautiously, still staring into their daughter's bedroom "please tell me Gallifrey's still in bed."

"Nope." The Doctor replied quietly, wide-eyed.

"It's two thirty in the morning."

"Yeah." The Doctor agreed.

Then, as they heard a sound from downstairs, they looked at each other, wide-eyed.

"The incubator!" they realised in unison.

Almost immediately, they began hurrying down the stairs and into the kitchen. Rose could have cried with relief when she saw their twins, sat on chairs in front of the incubator in their pyjamas, grinning at them.

"What are you two doing up, eh?" Rose asked the twins with a smile, hurrying over to them "You shouldn't be up at this time."

"The chicks, Mummy! The chicks!" Gallifrey announced with a toothy grin, pointing at the incubator.

The Doctor bounded over, peering into the incubator before beginning to grin.

"That's why you two were up then," he realised with a grin.

"Why?" Rose asked in confusion.

"Looks like the chicks are beginning to hatch out!" the Doctor announced with a smile.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose and the Doctor managed to bundle the twins up on the sofa for a few more hours' sleep, but eventually they were too excited about the chicks to sleep much more. As the twins didn't have nursery that day, the Doctor and Rose didn't worry too much and decided they could put them down for a bit of a nap later on.

"Now," the Doctor explained gently to the twins as they peered into the incubator "the chicks need to stay in here for another twelve hours or so, and then we'll move them to the brooder. So, you can help us move them to the brooder before you go to bed, ok?"

The twins nodded eagerly, both beaming. They then retook their chairs in front of the incubator for the next few hours, only moving when they needed the toilet. After a lot of waiting, it was finally time to move the chicks into the brooder, and the Doctor lifted the chicks one by one from the incubator, placing them in the twins' cupped hands who headed over and put them in the brooder on the kitchen counter. It was a slow process because the twins were very much aware that they had to be careful of the small animals they were carrying.

"What now?" Gallifrey asked as the final chick was placed in the brooder, wiping his hands on his t-shirt.

"Now it's time for you two to go to bed." Rose told the twins calmly, beginning to steer them from the room.

"But the chicks!" Debenhams protested, wide-eyed.

"Daddy and I will look after them." Rose assured them with a smile.

"Good." The girl replied forcefully.


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: I haven't abandoned this story! Never ever! Even though I have no idea when it'll actually end… Anywho, new chapter, read and review :) Usual twins cuteness here.**

"Come on, you two, just one photo! And please stop messing with your hair, Gallifrey!"

It was September 4th, the twins' first day at Foxton Primary. The twins were dressed and ready to head to school, but the Doctor and Rose were determined to get some photos of them in their school uniform to send to Jackie and Pete. By now, they'd managed to get the twins stood against the wall in the kitchen to take the photo. Both children were beaming at the camera, dressed in their school uniform. Gallifrey in his white polo shirt, blue school jumper and grey trousers, hair brushed while Debenhams stood beside him in a grey school skirt with her hair in bunches. Once the photos were done, the twins grabbed their school bags and the Doctor and Rose helped them into their coats. As it was their first day, both the Doctor and Rose were taking the twins to school. The two children were slipping out the door as soon as the Doctor had it open, and within a minute, were chasing each other down the lane to the village, leaving their parents to follow.

"I can't believe they're starting school." Rose murmured as they hurried after their twins, a smile on her face.

"I know." The Doctor agreed with a tender smile "Feels like yesterday that they were being born."

They managed to catch the twins up at the edge of the village, encouraging them to hold their hands as they crossed the roads. They finally reached the primary school just five minutes later, watching as the twins watched the other children in interest.

"Daddy," Gallifrey piped up after a moment, tugging on the sleeve of the Doctor's jacket and urging him to kneel down, which he did "they're very big."

"The other children?" the Doctor asked, glancing around the playground.

Gallifrey nodded, eyes wide.

"Well yes, I suppose they are." The Doctor admitted after a moment "But there's lots of people here that you know!"

At his son's sceptical expression, the Doctor gazed around the playground, intent on pointing out a few children that his children would know.

"See? Over there, there's Jonah." The Doctor pointed suddenly, pointing out a little boy stood a little way away with his Mum "You know Jonah from nursery, don't you? You were a shepherd in the nativity with Jonah. And over there is Dylan, and Sophie."

By now, the Doctor had caught Debenhams' attention too, and she pulled away from Rose to grip her Dad's free arm, watching as he pointed out various children that they knew.

**~StormWolf10~**

Gallifrey dug his heels in to the tarmac of the playground, shaking his head resolutely.

"'M not goin'!" he protested loudly, glaring up at his Mum.

"Come on, Gallifrey!" Rose begged, sighing "Debenhams is doing ok!"

Sure enough, Debenhams was rather happily being led into her new classroom by the Doctor, oblivious to the fact her brother was refusing to move.

"Don't care." Gallifrey muttered, letting go of Rose's hand to fold his arms, pouting.

"Sweetheart, you're going to have to go in. And it won't be for long, Daddy and I will be back to pick you up at lunchtime!" Rose told the boy, attempting to sound cheerful.

By now, the last of the children were being led into the classroom, Debenhams included, and Rose was feeling rather embarrassed as parents who had already dropped their children off glanced at her sympathetically as they headed home.

"I wanna go home!" Gallifrey yelled suddenly, going so far as to stamp his foot.

Rose's patience was already growing thin, and so she lifted the little boy into her arms, carrying him towards the classroom. The classroom assistant- Toby Johnson, if Rose was correct- was waiting at the door and smiled reassuringly at Rose as she approached. Toby was only in his mid-twenties, and Rose had only met him a few times, but he seemed a very competent teaching assistant.

"Hello, Gallifrey!" he greeted the boy with a smile "Ready for your first day of school?"

"Don't wanna!" Gallifrey protested, wriggling in Rose's arms as he got himself more and more worked up.

"But Debenhams is already inside! And you'll miss out on the games I had planned!" Toby told the boy, frowning slightly as he tried to encourage the little boy.

"Don't care!" the boy announced "I wanna go home!"

Toby glanced over at Rose, and was about to say something when the Doctor appeared, coming back outside.

"Hey, what's up, buddy?" the Doctor asked Gallifrey, quickly crossing to him and Rose "Your sister's already inside!"

"No she's not." Rose murmured, sighing as Debenhams came back outside, frowning in confusion. Rose then raised her voice "Go back inside, sweetheart. Gallifrey will be in soon."

"I won't! 'M not goin'!" Gallifrey protested again, beginning to sob as he struggled and kicked in Rose's arms.

"I'll take him," Toby told Rose gently, smiling reassuringly as he started forward "it's probably best if you both just say goodbye and leave. Else they'll both start getting themselves worked up."

Rose looked unsure, but the Doctor nodded in agreement. Rose carefully handed over Gallifrey to Toby and kissed her son goodbye. As Toby carried the still-crying Gallifrey inside, ushering Debenhams inside as he went, the Doctor carefully steered Rose towards the gates of the school.

**~StormWolf10~**

When they returned for the twins at lunchtime, Rose was rather nervous. They had, after all, left Gallifrey in tears and Debenhams had been rather confused. She'd spent almost an hour on the phone to Jackie upon arriving home, who had assured her that that was perfectly normal and that Rose had done something very similar herself on her first day of school.

"They'll both be fine, Rose." The Doctor assured her gently, slipping an arm around her waist as they waited in the playground.

"You sure?" Rose asked sceptically "We left Gallifrey in tears! What if he hates us?"

"He won't hate us." The Doctor told her, unable to stop himself from smiling slightly "I'm sure he'll barely even remember what happened when we dropped him off, he's probably enjoyed himself far too much."

Rose merely raised an eyebrow, still unconvinced. Just then, the doors to the classroom opened, and children came spilling out into the playground, running towards their parents. However, Gallifrey and Debenhams didn't appear. Almost immediately, a sense of dread began filling Rose, and although the Doctor's face remained stoic, the slight squeeze on Rose's hand gave him away. But then Toby- Mr Johnson- appeared in the doorway, Gallifrey balanced on his hip while Debenhams clutched at his hand. Toby led the children over to the Doctor and Rose, smiling reassuringly at the parents.

"How were they?" Rose asked in concern as she took Gallifrey from the young man, straightening Gallifrey's coat slightly.

"They were both fine," Toby assured her with a smile as Debenhams let go of his hand and lifted up her arms for the Doctor to pick her up "Gallifrey was a little teary at first, and Debenhams was a little nervous, but we did some drawing, and we did some puzzles as well and they seemed to settle down."

Rose nodded, bouncing her son slightly on her hip.

"Did you have fun, then?" the Doctor asked his children as he settled Debenhams on his hip.

Debenhams nodded eagerly while Gallifrey was a little more reluctant. He still nodded, though.

"Uh huh! Mr Johnson gave me a sticker!" Debenhams announced proudly, pointing at the bright pink sticker on her jumper.

"I got one too!" Gallifrey piped up, determined not to be left out as he pointed at the light blue sticker on his jumper.

"They both got stickers." Toby laughed "They were both very well behaved and did excellent drawings, so they got a sticker each."

The Doctor grinned, readjusting Debenhams on his hip.

"Well," Toby continued, clapping his hands together "I'd better get back inside now. I'll see you two tomorrow, yeah?"

Debenhams nodded eagerly, and when Gallifrey didn't reply, Toby looked at him.

"And what about you, Gallifrey?" Toby asked, arching his eyebrow.

Gallifrey shrugged, burying his face in Rose's neck.

"You might earn another sticker." Toby told the boy conversationally before leaning in and mock-whispering "And a little birdie told me that there might be some sweets up for grabs, as well."

Almost immediately, Gallifrey grinned, nodding eagerly.

"Yeah!"

Toby chuckled, ruffling the boy's blonde hair.

"I'll see you both tomorrow, then." He told them, waving goodbye to the twins as he headed back inside.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: NEW CHAPTER! Yay! Sorry for the lack of updates… We're going to be doing more farming stuff after this chapter….**

"But why can't I see Mummy?" Gallifrey asked his father yet again, his brow furrowed.

"Because it's the rules. And you might make your Gran angry." The Doctor replied as he tied his tie.

"But why?" Gallifrey repeated again.

The Doctor sighed, finishing tying his tie and crouching in front of his son.

"We can't see Mummy yet, because we're boys. You'll get to see Mummy soon, though." The Doctor told him.

"Is that why Debenhams is with Mummy? Because the boys can't see the girls?" Gallifrey asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"Something like that." He agreed, straightening up again.

It was December 21st, and in exactly one hour, the Doctor was to be marrying Rose in the village church. Jackie had initially wanted them to marry in a big church in London, and the Doctor wouldn't put it past her to have tried to hire Westminster Abbey. In the end though, Rose had insisted that they would be getting married in the village, not least because they'd made loads of friends in the five years they had lived there. And so instead, Jackie, Pete and Tony had come to Foxton for the wedding. The Doctor and Rose had also put off their honeymoon until February, when the twins would go to Jackie and Pete's for half term while the Doctor and Rose went away. Just then, the door opened and Pete stepped inside with Tony.

"How are you two doing?" Pete asked them with a smile.

"Fine, thanks, Pete." The Doctor replied, glancing over his shoulder to flash a smile at his soon-to-be father-in-law "Don't suppose you've heard from Jackie yet?"

Rose was at the house getting ready with Jackie, Debenhams and Lorraine while the Doctor, Gallifrey, Pete and Tony were in a back room of the church getting ready.

"Of course I have," Pete smirked "she's been phoning every ten minutes to make sure we're on schedule!"

The Doctor chuckled and turned to look at Gallifrey again. Both Gallifrey and Tony had brand new suits that matched the Doctor's, and Tony was busy helping his nephew with his tie.

"So you're marrying Mummy, Daddy?" Gallifrey asked suddenly, glancing up at his Dad, nose scrunched up and brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yep," the Doctor told his son, glancing at him with a smile.

"So you and Mummy aren't already married?"

"Nope." The Doctor replied "But we will be soon. You two ready to get your shoes on?"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Mum, stop fussin'," Rose sighed, batting her mother away from her hair as Jackie tried to fiddle with it.

Jackie, at least, looked a little sheepish, and proceeded to flutter around Debenhams instead, tying and retying the little girl's sash while Debenhams wriggled impatiently.

"Leave her be, Mum. She looks fine." Rose rolled her eyes, gently tugging her daughter away from Jackie.

"Are you excited, Debenhams?" Lorraine asked from where she was stood in front of a mirror fixing her makeup.

Debenhams grinned and nodded furiously.

"Are Daddy and Gallifrey already gonna be there?" Debenhams asked, looking up at her Mum.

Rose smiled and nodded, readjusting the little girl's silver sparkly alice band. As Rose was having her hair pinned up in soft curls, Debenhams had insisted on having her hair curled too, to match her Mum.

"Yeah. They'll be waiting for us." Rose explained "But you gotta walk down the aisle with me and Granddad and Tony first. Then you'll go and sit with Gran."

"But what about Gallifrey? Where will he sit?" Debenhams asked, nose wrinkling as she frowned.

"Gallifrey will be sat on Daddy's side because he's being Daddy's best man." Rose replied calmly "Like you're being my bridesmaid. You have to give us our rings."

Debenhams nodded quickly, wide-eyed and serious. Although Lorraine was Rose's matron of honour and Tony was page boy, it was Debenhams who would be handing Rose the ring, to make her feel more included in the wedding. Jackie had been a little sceptical about entrusting the four year old twins with such a vital part of the ceremony, but the Doctor and Rose were adamant that they could trust the twins. It had been decided that Tony would be keeping hold of the rings before giving them to the twins just before they were needed. Just then, Jackie glanced at her watch and stepped forward.

"Rose? We'd better get going. The car will be here soon." Jackie announced.

**~StormWolf10~**

Gallifrey looked up at his father, who was bouncing from foot to foot nervously. Silently, Gallifrey slipped his hand into the Doctor's, causing him to look down at the small boy in shock.

"Thanks, buddy." The Doctor told his son, offering him a small smile.

Gallifrey merely smiled at his Dad. The church was full of people now, and the doors opened suddenly to reveal Jackie. Pete patted the Doctor on the shoulder and headed out, while Jackie took her seat in the front pew on the left-hand side beside Tony. Sensing what was going to happen, Gallifrey let go of his Dad's hand and stepped back. Barely a minute later, everyone was on their feet, the music began to play, and Rose was walking down the aisle on Pete's arm. The Doctor couldn't help but steal a glance at his beautiful partner, grinning at her as she approached. She looked gorgeous, as always, and Lorraine and Debenhams were following, along with Tony who was carrying the rings on a small cushion.

"You look beautiful." The Doctor murmured when Rose finally reached him.

Rose grinned, blushing slightly, and watching as Debenhams went with Lorraine and Tony to stand at one side. The vicar spoke for a few minutes before the vows, and Rose couldn't help but grin as she watched Gallifrey shift impatiently from foot to foot behind the Doctor. Soon, it was time for the rings to be exchanged, and Gallifrey made his way over to Tony to collect the ring. He walked slowly and carefully to his Dad, handing the ring to the Doctor, while Debenhams bounded over to Rose and handed her the Doctor's ring. The twins stood, beaming, as their parents exchanged vows.

**~StormWolf10~**

They had photographs outside the church, a beautiful if slightly chilly spectacle- the church was covered in a substantial amount of snow, just enough to make it look beautiful, but Rose's dress was strapless and it was still pretty cold. Nonetheless, several photos were taken, with a few of just the Doctor and Rose, as well as a few with Gallifrey and Debenhams with their parents, before Lorraine, Tony, Pete and Jackie joined in. The effect was spectacular, particularly as the bridesmaids were in burgundy dresses, with the Doctor, Pete, Tony and Gallifrey wearing burgundy ties. Soon, however, they were heading for the reception at the village hall. It was somewhat of a relief to get into the warm, and as they took their seats for the sit-down meal, the twins began complaining that they were hungry.

"The food won't be long," Rose laughed, kissing Gallifrey on the forehead.

Not everyone from the village had been invited to the sit-down meal, but they were all welcome to come to the rest of the reception after the meal. That meant that the meal was relatively small, with their closest village friends and members of Rose's family being invited only. The Doctor and Rose also knew it was unconventional to have their bridesmaids, and page boy sitting on the top table, but it was the way their reception was going to be.

After the sit-down meal, the music started up and more of the villagers arrived. Soon, the main area of the hall was filled with laughter and dancing, Gallifrey and Debenhams running around with Tony while the Doctor and Rose watched.

"You know what?" Rose asked quietly, leaning into her husband's embrace.

"What?" the Doctor asked, smiling as he looked down at his wife.

"I'm really glad I said yes." Rose told him, smiling blissfully as she looked up at the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned.

"Me too." He told her.

"I love you," Rose murmured.

"And I love you." The Doctor responded softly, ducking down to kiss her.

Neither of them saw Gallifrey and Debenhams pull a face as they saw their parents kissing.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: I've changed the category. It's now 'family' rather than 'humour'. :) Read and review, guys XD**

February came round quickly, and soon the Doctor and Rose were off to Spain for the week. Jensen had agreed to see to the animals, and the twins- and Archie- were with Jackie and Pete for the weekend. Jackie and Pete had been ecstatic about being able to spend time with the twins all week, they were suddenly realising how much like their parents they were. Within hours of being dropped off at their Grandparents', the twins were running around with Tony, yelling and climbing into cupboards, investigating every nook and cranny of the Tyler Mansion.

"They haven't been here before, have they?" Jackie realised, glancing at her husband over the rim of her coffee mug as the twins thundered past the front room, closely followed by Tony.

"No," Pete agreed slowly "I guess not."

However, despite the fact the four year old twins had never been to their Grandparents' house before, they seemed to be getting on well, particularly with eight year old Tony showing them around. By the time dinner was ready, the twins and Tony had seemingly found every hiding space in the house.

"Come on then, you three." Jackie called as she and Pete dished up dinner "Dinner's ready."

There was a rumbling from upstairs, and suddenly the sound of three sets of- still rather small- feet hurrying down the stairs. Within a minute, the twins and Tony were clambering onto seats in the dining room, waiting at the table for their dinner expectantly. Tony seemed a little worn out, but to Jackie's and Pete's confusion, Gallifrey and Debenhams seemed fine. Blinking, they handed the twins their dinner.

**~StormWolf10~**

"How do they do it?" Jackie groaned, collapsing onto the sofa beside Pete.

Archie was flaked out on the floor, head on his paws as he dozed. The dog seemed relieved that all three children were now in bed, giving him some peace and quiet without being poked and pulled by the children.

"Rose and the Doctor are used to running after the twins, we're not. Not even Tony's _that_ energetic!" Pete told his wife, yawning.

It was their third day with the twins, and Jackie was exhausted. They were both little balls of energy, seemingly never slowing down. Even Tony was having trouble keeping up with Gallifrey and Debenhams, and if they took their eyes of the twins for more than a few minutes, they'd disappeared, off on another of their little adventures.

"_I_ can't believe they want to play outside! In February!" Jackie continued, shaking her head.

"They live on a farm, Jaqs." Pete pointed out with a chuckle "They've grown up surrounded by countryside and animals and a little village community. They help the Doctor and Rose on the farm now, they're getting older, of course they want to be outside. It's what they know."

"I suppose so," Jackie conceded with a sigh.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Gran!"

Jackie heard her grandson before she saw him. She could hear the soft thud of his willies as he ran back into the house. The twins were always running, Jackie mused, even if their parents had stopped running a long time ago now.

"Gran!"

"In the kitchen, Gallifrey," Jackie called to her grandson "where's your sister-"

Jackie broke off, blinking, as she surveyed the little boy in front of her.

"Gran! We watered your garden for you!" Gallifrey announced happily, giving his Gran a toothy grin.

"I… I noticed." Jackie stuttered, shocked.

The little boy was sopping wet, and mud clung to his clothes, causing the previously bright blue jeans and red jumper to look dull and dirty. Actually, mud seemed to cling to every part of him, as Jackie noticed streaks of mud on her grandson's face and even in his blonde hair. Mouth opening and closing like a fish, Jackie suddenly found herself being dragged to the garden by Gallifrey.

"See? We watered the plants, like Mummy showed us!" Gallifrey grinned.

Jackie blinked. She'd expected her garden to be waterlogged, a muddy, damp marshland if Gallifrey's appearance was anything to go by. But it was immaculate. The flowerbeds and grass were a little waterlogged in places, and Debenhams was still quite happily squirting the hose everywhere, but they hadn't actually done a bad job. Jackie suddenly realised that, of course they hadn't, her grandchildren had grown up on a farm. It wouldn't be long before they could milk a cow, let alone water her garden. Just then, Debenhams noticed that her brother had returned, and she grinned, waving at her Gran happily. Like her brother, she was streaked with dirt, her clothes muddy, but the little girl looked happy. And then, Jackie spotted her own son. Eight year old Tony was stood some way away, arms folded over his chest, and- like Gallifrey-, sopping wet. His blonde hair was plastered to his face as he scowled.

"They kept squirtin' me with water, Mum!" he yelled upon seeing Jackie.

Archie, who had been running up and down the garden, skidded to a halt, looking at Tony upon his outburst. And then, he jumped at him. When Tony finally managed to get the dog off of him, his entire back was caked in mud. Despite all her better judgements, Jackie Tyler just laughed.


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Oh, I've missed writing this story! All the insane farming research I have to do, looking up prices and animals and breeding… Review with name suggestions for the twins' Shetland ponies- the best two names will be chosen for the ponies (they're both boys, so boy names only!) XD With thanks to the wonderful Rose McDonald for information on children and ponies/riding etc :D**

Rose blinked, staring at her husband who was just grinning at her.

"Rose?" he prompted after a few moments, smile fading slightly "Don't you think it's a good idea? I mean, the kids are getting so much more interested in Arthur, but he's too big for them…"

"So you're actually considering getting the twins Shetland ponies?" Rose broke in.

The Doctor nodded. It was something they'd discussed several times over the years, but things had always gotten in the way; it had always been too close to Christmas, or the twins had needed new shoes and clothes, or they needed to pay out for more fencing because some foxes had gotten to the chickens again. It was something the Doctor always got excited about, before the plans got forgotten, before he realised how expensive they were, or that the ponies he'd been looking at were too far away for them to collect, or that they didn't have a horse box. Each time, Rose had been sure not to let the Doctor tell the twins, knowing how excited they'd get, how disappointed they'd be when they had to tell them it wasn't happening. And this time would be no different.

"For real, this time? Because we've talked about it before." Rose pointed out.

Again, the Doctor nodded.

"Definitely this time, Rose." He responded "We have enough money, and I've seen two brilliant little ponies not far from here, for sale. They're three years old, being sold by the same person although they're not brothers. They're both skewbald colts, one is chestnut and white, and one is buckskin and white, and are suitable for the twins to ride."

"You've really been looking into this, haven't you?" Rose asked, slightly shocked.

"Yeah, well, I figured we've been putting it off long enough. I know most kids don't start riding until they're six or seven, but the twins are already showing signs of being interested and they're almost five. Might as well encourage them if it's something they're interested in. Maybe we'll even get you on Arthur."

Rose scoffed at that. As excited as she'd been about getting a horse all those years ago, she hadn't even sat on the animal. She'd always been too nervous when they first got him, told the Doctor that she'd wait until he was a little more used to being ridden. And then she'd fallen pregnant, and after that she'd taken to using the twins as an excuse not to ride- she had no idea what she was doing, and there would be no one to keep an eye on Gallifrey and Debenhams while the Doctor taught her how to ride. She knew that the Doctor would catch on eventually, she already thought he had an inkling that she was scared. And if the twins were on their own Shetland ponies, well, she wouldn't have an excuse. Also, she'd feel a little stupid about feeling scared. Not meeting the Doctor's gaze, she shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose watched with a small, slightly sad smile as her twins ran off towards their classroom door with barely so much as a 'goodbye'. They'd been at school for seven months, and had both settled in well, despite being a little nervous at first. The twins had dressed themselves that day, and Rose dreaded to think what they were wearing under their coats- the children had refused to let their parents see their clothes. It was 'Hero Day' at school, and as Rose watched Gallifrey and Debenhams disappear inside the school, children mulled around her, dressed in various costumes, both real and fictional. There was a group of little boys dressed as Harry Potter, a boy dressed as Luke Skywalker, three little girls dressed as Disney princesses. There were soldiers, Power Rangers, Princesses, ballet dancers, fairies and even an Ash Ketchum. And although Rose didn't know exactly what her twins had dressed as- they'd been rather secretive, refusing to tell their parents- she knew that her children didn't fit into any of the categories she'd seen the other children slotting into. With a sigh, she shook her head and headed out of the playground.

**~StormWolf10~**

Hours later, it was both the Doctor and Rose who headed back to pick the twins up. The playground slowly filled with parents and, when 3 o'clock came, kids came spilling out of every door. It looked like a brightly-coloured tidal wave as fairies and Disney characters and footballers and cartoon characters filled the playground, heading towards their parents. Children from Gallifrey's and Debenhams' class came running out, and Toby Johnson- the TA- held the door open for them. Seeing that Rose and the Doctor were looking a little confused at the distinct lack of their twins, he flashed them a grin.

"They're just getting their stuff together." Toby told them with a grin "You must be very proud of the costumes they picked."

"Actually," the Doctor piped up "we don't know what they picked. They refused to tell us. Got all unsure and shy, rather uncharacteristically so. They wouldn't tell us. Even dressed themselves."

"You… You didn't know?" Toby asked, shocked.

Both the Doctor and Rose shook their heads.

"It wasn't anything bad, was it?" Rose asked nervously.

"No, no, it was… Like I said, you should be proud." Toby repeated with a smile.

And then Gallifrey and Debenhams appeared in the doorway, coats clutched in their arms as they clutched at their schoolbags and lunchboxes. The Doctor and Rose gaped. It was then that they realised why Toby had said they should be proud of them. The twins had clearly dug through their wardrobes for ages, finding exactly the right clothes for their 'Hero Day'. They'd obviously put a lot of effort into it, to find miniature versions of their parents' clothes in their wardrobes. Because Gallifrey and Debenhams hadn't dressed as TV or film characters. They'd gone as their parents. Oblivious to their parents' gaping, the twins quickly made their way over to their parents.

"Mummy! We did colouring today!" Gallifrey announced as he hurried over to Rose, grinning.

At the same time, Debenhams made her way over to the Doctor, holding her arms up to be carried. The Doctor obliged quickly, and glanced across at Rose who was taking Gallifrey's bag and lunchbox from him. Toby smirked at the two stunned parents.

"Why… Why didn't you tell us this was what you wanted to dress as?" the Doctor asked Debenhams in confusion.

"It was a surprise." Gallifrey answered for his sister.

"Was it a good surprise?" Debenhams asked her Dad worriedly.

"The best." The Doctor assured quickly as Rose nodded in agreement.

Smiling satisfyingly to himself, Gallifrey began running for the playground gate, quickly followed by his sister as she wriggled from the Doctor's arms.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: New chapter :) Read and review please :)**

"Go on then, put it in your basket before you lose it." Rose told Debenhams, prompting her over to the little pink wicker basket sat on the grass.

It was Easter Sunday, and the Doctor and Rose had set up an Easter egg hunt in their garden. The Doctor had wanted to include their fields as well, until Rose had pointed out that it would take the twins ages and they'd be picking out manky, forgotten Easter eggs from the hedgerow come summer. Debenhams ran over to the basket, dropping the little foil-wrapped chocolate egg into the basket. She risked a glance in her brother's blue wicker basket, and appeared to be pondering whether he'd miss just one little egg when Rose appeared behind her.

"Don't think I didn't see you eying up your brother's Easter eggs, missy." Rose told the girl warningly, although she was smiling "Why don't you go and see if you can find some more of your own? I don't think Gallifrey's looked by the swings yet."

Immediately, Debenhams grinned, setting off at a run towards the swing set. Rose watched, arms folded and jacket pulled a little tighter around her. It wasn't particularly warm, but at least it wasn't raining, Rose mused. The twins had taken to running everywhere just recently, always running. Running to brush their teeth, running to school, running from school, running towards Archie, running towards the sheep, running towards Lorraine when they went in the village shop… The list was endless. The only place they didn't run was to their beds when it was their bedtime. Then, it was tantrums and crying and begging for 'just a few more minutes, Mummy'. More often than not, one of them was on the naughty step nowadays. They'd actually been worse in the past few months than when they'd been two. They weren't bad children, not really, Rose decided, watching as the Doctor helped Gallifrey fish another Easter egg out of a bush. But they had their moments. Their sibling rivalry was kicking in stronger than ever, all pokes and prods and kicks under the table at mealtime, and hair-pulling and toy-snatching and Easter egg-stealing. And then there were the times when they teamed up. They'd back Archie into a corner, scaring the poor dog just because they wanted to play with him. They'd chase the chickens because they wanted to hold them. Sometimes, they got a little too excited about helping out on the farm, even though they'd grown up there, Gallifrey and Debenhams sometimes needed reminding that the animals were smaller than them, could be easily hurt, could easily hurt them. And when Rose had told Jackie all that in their last phone call, Jackie had immediately began remarking that 'oh, they were lovely when your Dad and I had them while you were on honeymoon', and 'I really can't believe they're that naughty!'. But the truth was, those things only made up a small portion of the day, sometimes didn't even happen for several days, the twins were usually very well-behaved. They were tiny, insignificant in the face of the bigger picture, of their family growing up around them. And Rose wouldn't miss it for the world, not even the sibling rivalry could put her off.

"Mummy!"

Rose looked down just as Gallifrey bounded over, small hands cupped and held close to his chest to support the amount of foil-wrapped eggs in his hands.

"You've got a lot there!" Rose told her four year old boy, crouching in front of him as her son grinned, a miniature replica of the Doctor's cheeky grin "Wanna put them in your basket so you don't lose them?"

"Uh huh." Gallifrey nodded, face serious as he carefully lowered his eggs into his basket.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Have they found them all yet?" Rose asked the Doctor, glancing at her watch before looking back at the twins, who were crawling through the grass looking for more chocolate eggs.

"Oh… I don't know," the Doctor admitted, turning to his wife wide-eyed "I thought you were counting."

"I wasn't counting! I thought you were!" Rose told her husband, wide-eyed.

With a sigh, the Doctor dropped to a crouch beside the twins' baskets, counting the eggs they'd already found.

"Looks like they've got them all," he said after a while, straightening back up as Archie came over.

Rose rubbed at the Collie's ears, watching the twins.

"Should we call them back inside then?" Rose asked "I've got to get started on dinner."

"Why don't you go on in and do that, I'll stay out here and keep an eye on the twins?" the Doctor suggested, smiling as Gallifrey suddenly plonked himself on the grass, a bug cupped in his hands.

"What is it with those kids and bugs?" Rose asked, noticing what her children were doing. Although she sounded a little disgusted, she was smiling, watching her children fondly.

"They're curious. Nothing wrong with that." The Doctor shrugged.

"I never said there was anything wrong with that." Rose pointed out "Anyway, it's like they're having their own little adventures in the back garden."

And then, with a grin, Rose headed back to the house, leaving the Doctor outside with the twins.


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: Jumped forward a few months here, to the end of August for the twins' birthdays. Also, don't know when the next chapter will be up, because much of tomorrow morning will be spent with me trying to book tickets for the Doctor Who 50****th **** anniversary Convention for me and a friend (we both have our fingers crossed they announce Tennant and/or Piper to be in attendance. PLEASE GOD!)**

"Mummy? Mummy! Mummy, get up!"

Rose groaned, brow furrowing as she turned over and tried to go back to sleep. She felt the Doctor shift in the bed beside her, heard him groan, and felt the thin sheet that was covering them slip slightly as the twins clambered onto the bed.

"Mummy? Daddy! Wake up! We want our presents!"

Sighing, Rose rubbed her eyes and sat up, knowing the twins wouldn't leave them alone. It was their fifth birthday today, and sure enough, Gallifrey and Debenhams were sat in the middle of the bed, on top of their parents, watching them expectantly. As the Doctor sat up too, both twins grinned.

"Hello, you two!" the Doctor told them, smiling tiredly as he reached for Gallifrey, hauling the little boy to him and beginning to tickle him.

The little boy giggled in delight, and Debenhams launched herself across the bed, not wanting to be left out.

"It's our birthday, Daddy!" Debenhams told the Doctor with a grin, gripping his arm as Gallifrey wriggled out of the Doctor's grip to wedge himself between his parents.

"I know!" the Doctor told his daughter, wide-eyed "I'm guessing you two want breakfast and your presents?"

Both twins nodded eagerly, and the Doctor glanced over at Rose, who nodded.

"Ok then," the Doctor told them "you two go and get dressed and Mummy and I will sort out breakfast. Then you'll get your presents. Deal?"

But already, the twins were scrambling off the bed and running for the door.

**~StormWolf10~**

By the time Rose and the Doctor had dressed, gotten downstairs and cooked the bacon and eggs for breakfast, the twins were dressed and sat at the kitchen table. Of course, as the twins had dressed themselves, they'd picked their own clothes, which didn't quite match. Gallifrey was wearing light blue plaid shorts with a stripy blue and white t-shirt- which quite frankly made Rose's eyes hurt-, while Debenhams had picked out a pair of light blue shorts and a bright orange t-shirt. However, both children looked very happy with their outfits, so both the Doctor and Rose decided to keep quiet.

"When do we get our presents?" Debenhams asked as Rose placed her breakfast in front of her.

"Once you've had your breakfast." Rose told her daughter, kissing her on the head "You'll have to come and help Daddy and me on the farm, and your present's outside."

Both twins' eyes went wide at that, and they began wolfing down their breakfast quickly. Both the Doctor and Rose watched, shocked expressions on their faces as their five year old twins ate faster than they could keep up.

"Can we go now?" Gallifrey asked, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Yeah, can we?" Debenhams echoed.

"In a minute. Go get your wellies on." The Doctor told them with a smile.

The twins scampered off, and by the time they came back holding their wellies, the Doctor and Rose were clearing away the breakfast things.

"Right, come on then, up on the chairs." The Doctor told them, kneeling in front of Gallifrey to help him with his wellies.

The boy had a miniature pair of the Doctor's wellies; a standard pair of dark green wellies, traditional country wellington boots. Once the boy was wearing them, the Doctor grabbed a comb and brushed Gallifrey's hair quickly. Rose, meanwhile, helped Debenhams into her light blue wellies- a miniature version of Rose's wellies- and brushed the girl's hair into bunches. Almost as soon as their hair was brushed, the twins were running for the door again, leaving Rose and the Doctor hurrying to get their own wellies on and follow them out the door.

**~StormWolf10~**

The twins were old enough to understand the daily routine on the farm now. They started by checking in on the chickens and letting them out, feeding them. Archie bounded round their feet, having followed them out of the house and running around the family as they went about seeing to the animals. After the chickens, they headed up to the sheep, letting them out before making their way to the cows, then Arthur. The moment the Doctor opened the stable, the twins' eyes went wide.

"Daddy!" Gallifrey whispered, tugging at the Doctor's trousers "There's more horses than there were last night."

"Is there?" the Doctor asked in mock concern, before looking over at the two Shetland ponies "So there is!"

Rose stifled a laugh at the confused look on the twins' faces. It had taken a lot of planning to get the ponies into the stables. They were the very same Shetland ponies the Doctor had suggested to Rose about buying a few months back. They'd managed to get the money, and Jensen from Lowercroft farm was more than happy to keep hold of them when the Doctor had picked them up. Then, after Rose had put the twins to bed the previous night, Jensen had helped the Doctor bring them down to the stables on Noble farm. Realising the twins were still just staring at the ponies, Rose crouched beside them.

"You can go over and stroke them, if you're careful. They're yours."

Both twins blinked and turned to look at her.

"Ours?" Debenhams echoed, nose crinkled in confusion.

With a smile, Rose nodded.

"They're your birthday presents, sweethearts. Daddy's going to teach you how to ride."

Gallifrey and Debenhams grinned and, needing no more prompting, headed over to the ponies. While Gallifrey went straight for the buckskin and white skewbald colt, Debenhams went for the chestnut and white colt. Rose straightened up, slipping under the Doctor's arm and watching the twins carefully.

"Can we name them?" Gallifrey asked suddenly, turning to look at his parents expectantly.

"Well, I think they already have names-" the Doctor began, before stopping when the twins' faces fell "But I'm sure we can teach them to respond to new names."

The twins immediately brightened again and turned back to the horses.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose readjusted Gallifrey's helmet for him, biting her lip as she saw him perched somewhat precariously on top of his pony. Both children were bouncing up and down in the saddles, grinning and holding on tight, but Rose couldn't help but worry. As someone who'd never ridden a horse, she worried that she wouldn't be able to help her twins if something went wrong. The Doctor didn't seem at all fazed, however, and was grinning away as he helped Debenhams with her pony.

"Mummy? Mummy!"

Gallifrey's voice interrupted her thoughts, and Rose turned to look at her son, forcing a smile and trying not to look so worried.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" she asked, glancing over her son. She'd slathered the twins in sun cream just ten minutes before, determined for them not to get sunburnt.

"Pokey won't move."

Rose blinked, and it took her a few moments to remember that her children had already renamed their ponies. While Debenhams had named hers Biscuit, Gallifrey had chosen Pokey. Mentally shaking her head, Rose replied to her son.

"Well, that's because we haven't told him to go anywhere yet."

"Why not?" Gallifrey demanded, brow suddenly furrowing "I want him to move!"

"Hold on, just a few more minutes. Once your sister's settled, Daddy will start getting the ponies to move, but not before."

Seemingly satisfied, Gallifrey nodded and leant forward to try and lean over and look Pokey in the eyes. Quickly, Rose's hands went to her son's waist, anchoring him to the pony.

"Rose? Is Gallifrey ready?" the Doctor called over suddenly, grinning.

Rose nodded, smiling despite her panic.

"Are we gonna learn to ride them now, Daddy?" Debenhams piped up excitedly.

"Not today, sweetheart," the Doctor laughed "you're still a little too small. But we'll get you used to the horses today. Me and Mummy are gonna walk you round the paddock on them, and then maybe you can try walking them yourselves?"

**~StormWolf10~**

Half an hour later, Rose and the Doctor leant against the fence, watching as Gallifrey and Debenhams walked Pokey and Biscuit around the paddock. The look of concentration on the children's faces would have made Rose laugh if they didn't look so cute.

"Think we made the right decision then?" the Doctor asked his wife quietly, glancing over at her.

Rose smiled and nodded.

"Definitely."

There was a moment's pause, and then the Doctor spoke again.

"So does this mean we'll be able to get you on Arthur soon?"

Rose felt her husband's eyes on her, and she wrinkled her nose, shrugging.

"Dunno, maybe." She replied, watching the twins rather than looking at the Doctor.

"Rose? Are you scared? It's only Arthur, you know he won't hurt you. I've been riding him for years now."

"I know, but…" Rose trailed off, shrugging again.

The Doctor tugged Rose in for a hug, and they stood in silence for a while, just watching their two children interact with their ponies. Eventually, Rose pulled away.

"You think we should take a picture of the kids with the ponies for Mum and Dad?"

The Doctor smiled, kissing Rose on the forehead.

"I think they'd love that."


End file.
